Aviation

Transport and Communications Minister Costis Hatzidakis recently announced a joint ministerial decree in which Araxos National Airport (45 km west of Patras) becomes an official air gateway to Greece.

The International Air Transport Association recently announced a revised industry financial forecast for airline losses this year and 2009 and evaluated that the difficult business conditions will remain.

The European Union last month gave its consent to Greece’s plan to privatize the Greek carrier Olympic Airlines next year, but said the airline must pay back 850 million euros in illegal state aid it received between 2005-2007.

The interministerial committee for denationalization last month gave the ‘green light’ for the utilization of regional airports by private investors.

Amadeus, the global leader in technology and distribution solutions for the travel and tourism industry, last month signed a 10-year distribution agreement with 13 members of the Arab Air Carriers Organization.

The European Commission recently approved the eighth update of the ‘black list’ of airline companies that are banned from flying to European Union countries due to security issues.

Consumer organization EKPOIZO recently discovered that advertized airline tickets have serious price variations, some which reached up to 63 percent between the advertized on-line cost and the actual charge.

The crisis within the aviation market, which has already reached alarming proportions in the USA, is slowly beginning to have an impact on Greece, say representatives from Athens International Airport “Eleftherios Venizelos.”

Transport and Communications Minister Costis Hatzidakis recently rearranged the administration of Olympic Airlines, Olympic Airways-Services and Pantheon Airways.

Air One recently launched direct flights departing from Athens and Thessaloniki to Milan. Athens will be served by two flights a day and Thessaloniki with one daily flight to Malpensa airport in Milan.