The current owners of Olympic Air, Marfin Investment Group, appear determined to leave the company and are vigorously defending their territory against the award-winning Aegean Airlines. But plans to merge the two airlines may change everything about flying in Greece, if they can get permission from the EU to do so. Due to this fluid situation, expect policies and routes to potentially change in late 2013 and 2014.
Pros
- Olympic Airlines had problems that Olympic Air seems determined to solve
- Assertive management seeks to share international codes, most recently with Cyprus Air
- It looks like Olympic Air is trying to give Aegean a fight over money, routes and customers
- Marfin Investment Group is purchasing new aircraft for the island’s routes
Cons
- It remains one of the two main airlines serving Greece national; only Aegean offers a lot of competition.
Description
- With the many new aircraft that MIG is purchasing for Olympic Air, the airline will have one of the newest fleets in the world.
- The new owners are expected to substantially upgrade the business class.
- New uniforms cheer up new or newly trained crews.
- The Olympic specials are offering very low prices to Greece from locations in Europe.
- Olympic is seeking agreements with many other airlines to facilitate access to Greece from the rest of Europe and beyond.
Guide Review – Olympic Aerial Information
Olympic Air will quickly get to know you if you spend any time in Greece. Closely losing a merger with Aegean Airlines, Greece’s flagship airline Olympic Air is adding partners and competing head-to-head with Aegean on some routes. Customer service has improved and overall Olympic has sharpened its game in recent years of direct competition from Aegean.
Since the official Olympic Air website often appears with its Greek version in search results or it can be a bit confusing, I have broken down the main pages here for your convenience.
Olympic Air English Language website links
In many searches, only the Greek version of Olympic Air appears – these are some of the key links to flight status, reservations, and other essential airline items.
- Olympic Airlines English Language Home Page
- Olympic Airlines Online Ticket Booking
- Olympic Airlines Flight Status
- Information on flight interruption, strike and cancellation
How to know if Olympic flies where you want to go
This isn’t particularly obvious on the new website, so here’s help. Go to the Destinations link and see if your location appears in the paragraphs on that page and get a general idea of the available destinations. Next, go to the Schedules link above and enter your departure and arrival airport by selecting them from the drop-down lists. They may not “stick” into search boxes if you type them, even if they appear there. So be sure to select them from the drop down lists. If your destination is known, you can also go directly to the Schedules page and select your destination.
Olympic Air has also introduced a liberal ticket exchange policy; All tickets, even those for sale, can be changed, although there may be related fees to do so.
For reservations, passengers can book online or by calling.
You may see a mention of ‘PSO’ flights, which are low or non-profit ‘public service obligation’ routes, which Olympic will likely continue to serve through Aegean Airlines is fighting for some of them. In the past, these flights were among the most frequently canceled or combined, but at least for the near future, as Aegean and Olympic compete vigorously, these vital flights to smaller islands should enjoy better service.
Olympic Air Discounts
You can subscribe to their “Weekend Air” email alerts, which can serve as inspiration for last minute trips. They usually offer 4-5 Greek destinations plus at least one foreign flight to Cyprus, Egypt or other places. These discounted flights can be booked Friday through Sunday and are good for flights starting the following Tuesday. These discounts may not always be available and Olympic Air may be changing its schedule as time goes on.
Olympic flight schedules
Low Fare Calendar – Another way to find cheap seats.
