Aegean for Olympic? – again

Marfin Investment Group, the owner of Olympic Air, and Aegean Airlines have agreed Olympic's sale to Aegean.  This is very much in the hands of the European Commission who blocked initial plans in January 2011.  However, with the dire state of the Greek economy and overseas carriers homing in on Greek business, an approval looks likely.

The big difference between the two proposals is that under the new scheme the brand names and logos of the two companies will be maintained and each will have distinct aircraft and flight staff.  Aegean, a member of the Star Alliance since June 2010 and the ERA Airline of the Year 2008/2009, says the unification of administrative, planning, purchasing and commercial functions will lead to substantial economies of scale, in buying power and elimination of duplicate systems.  Fleet usage and network planning will be optimized to improve efficiencies and connectivity while improving coverage and product offer. 

As things stand the combined airlines would have a fleet of around 40 Airbus 320 series aircraft and 14 Bombardier Q400s.  What happens when routes clash remains to be seen. www.aegeanair.com www.olympicair.com www.marfininvestmentgroup.com

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