Sat, Nov 21 2009

Greek parliament approves Olympic Airlines privatisation amid employee protests

Fri, Oct 03 2008 12:51 CET byClive Leviev-Sawyer 1128 Views

The privatisation of debt-laden Olympic Airlines was approved by parliament in Athens in a narrow vote on October 2 2008, giving the green light to a scheme which has European Union approval but which brought airline employees and unionists out in protest.

In September, the EU approved the sale scheme for the airline, which has debts of about two billion euro, but made approval conditional on the airline paying back state subsidies adding up to about 850 million euro.

Embattled prime minister Kostas Karamanlis has defended the move, while according to Greek media reports, transport minister Costis Hadzidakis gave an assurance that the air carrier's name, emblem, employees, remote routes (mostly to the Greek islands), as well as its growth prospects perspectives had been secured.

Joined by the protesting Olympic Airlines employees were representatives of the Greek Railway Organisation OSE which is also to be subject to restructuring. The General Confederation of Workers of Greece has declared a public utility strike in protest against the airline and railway moves.

Olympic Airlines began operating in its current form on December 12 2003, following the integration of all Olympic Airways and Olympic Aviation flight operations by Macedonian Airlines, which was renamed to Olympic Airlines, and until then only performed charter flights, according to the company's website. It serves 78 destinations and has a fleet of 41. This year, a shortfall in aircraft has led Olympic to cancel some flights.

On September 16 2008, the Greek government announced a major restructuring, which will see the launch of a new private airline named Pantheon Airways, scheduled to start operations this month.

Pantheon will operate parallel to Olympic Airlines until, in April 2009, Olympic Airlines will be shut down and Pantheon will take over some of its routes. Pantheon will then be renamed with "Olympic" being in the name, while Olympic's rings will also be used. The new Olympic will be freed of the old Olympic's debts. The number of jobs at the airline is supposed to shrink from 8000 to 1000 workers.

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