Recent reports about troubled state-owned air carrier Olympic Airlines have annulled the last remaining argument for maintaining the stagnant situation: Safety has gradually ceased to be the company’s comparative advantage. Continuous company losses have pushed its managers toward cheap and patchy solutions in a bid to keep the company afloat.

This is a problem that has remained unsolved for many years as politicians have feared the political cost could in fact cost human lives.

Everyone – and, above all, the government – must realize that the issue has gone past ripe, and is almost rotten. The existing situation concerns not only the pockets of Greece’s taxpayers but also their safety. And that should be enough to accelerate decisions.