Offers by 7 airlines submitted
Recently privatized Olympic Air and Aegean Airlines were among the seven companies that took part in the government’s call for tenders for state-subsidized routes, seeking to service 17 mainly island destinations, according to local press reports. Aegean, which competes with recently privatized Olympic Air, said it offered to service the routes with Avro RJ100 112-seat jets and ATR 72 88-seat planes. It offered to service routes including the islands of Kalymnos, Icaria, Astypalaia, Skiathos, Skyros, Samos, Chios, Lesvos, Karpathos and Kythera, providing flights from Athens and Thessaloniki. Olympic Air is believed to be interested in servicing all 24 routes. The tender announced by Greece’s civil aviation authority encompasses a total of 24 routes that are commercially unviable, hence the state subsidies for carriers operating them. The other companies that took part in the tender were Astra Airlines, Athens Airways, Carpatair, Hellas Jet and Sky Express. The deadline for offers expired yesterday.
