DrHalxx

There are rumours on greek travel media that Aegean needs a bailout and one of the possible solutions is partial nationalisation. This was mentioned recently by the CEO. I'm not suprised....

Yreal

Would make sense, seeing how important tourism is for Greece.

Xandrios

A loan of sorts may be needed...but nationalisation? Are we creating Olympic v2.0? I sure hope not!

fransknorge

I do not know enough about Greece to have an opinion. If that were to happen would it be rather good or rather bad ?

southlondonphil

Wouldn't that be Olympic 3.0, technically?

DELLAS

Well its pure speculation and has not actually been mentioned that it could be renationalised. Just for clarification and always good to provide a link to ones source this is all that has been ''officially'' said :

Covid-19: Greece’s AEGEAN Airlines Counting on Government Support

Greek national carrier AEGEAN is hoping for government support after the company suffered massive losses due to the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak.

According to AEGEAN Chairman Eftichios Vassilakis, it will take the Greek airline at least six months to recover and two to three years to reach pre-coronavirus levels with revenue currently at 0.05 percent of its daily total.

Speaking during a recent online event held by Endeavor Greece, Vassilakis, who is also vice president of the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE) said that the top priority now was to protect the airline and make sure it will be flying once the coronavirus crisis subsides.

“Right now, we are working to continue operations without any demand… and at the same time making efforts not to betray our relationships with our employees, with our customers, with our suppliers” said Vassilakis, who is also on the board of Endeavor Greece.

https://news.gtp.gr/2020/05/04/covid...nment-support/


No real surprises as even the strongest of airlines will need some sort of support or tax breaks going forward. Aegean is no different. The Greek government is not in a good position to be throwing money at airlines either. Greece is looking to slowly open its tourism market from July although this is a flexible date. Of course all things are being looked at including testing passengers at airports before flying and would need to be part of an EU agreement from originating countries.

Im sure Aegean would totally exhaust all other avenues should it need to before even looking at a government loan and of course the implications that it would have on the business. The last thing Greece needs now is to get involved in airlines and the last thing Aegean needs now is state interference and a veto at the top table. Of course Aegean is a vitally important part of Greek tourism and the Greek economy. We saw that in the recent years of crisis and how it helped to rebuild the country.

powergean

No! 4.0
Olympic airlines
Olympic Airways
Olympic air

...................

Xandrios

Depending on which iteration of the airline, that could be rather bad. I was referring to the state-owned version prior to them being merged into Aegean. They had a rather bad reputation not dissimilar of that of the public sector in Greece. Think Alitalia but likely a few steps more dramatic.

SPLP007

A3 is a great airline- please do not destroy it!

djjaguar64

It will be a nightmare OLYMPIC AIR with the mama's as stewardesses

RedChili

Calm down. It won't be Olympic v 2.0, 3.0 or 4.0. A partial nationalisation means that the government will, in return for their investment, receive a number of shares. If, let's say, the Greek government gets 20% shares, Aegean will continue as before. The government will get to vote on major decisions, but there won't be lots of old mamas suddenly appearing out of the blue. Some employees will be fired, but they won't get any new employees.

KLouis

I really don't intend to start a big discussion on this, I'm only expressing my amazement! If anybody in the US would dare call the FAs working on American long haul flights "old mamas", this would create an uproar (sexism, discrimination against older women, etc.). Here, in the context of OA and A3 the only reaction so far was a post saying that there is no danger for this happening. Are we witnessing the beginning of the end of political correctness?

djjaguar64

Agreed, I made the change. I never discriminate.

Bob999

Hahaha what a joke, a bit over a month ago aegean ordered 42 new airplanes and with the way they ripped off domestic flights because of monopoly I'd say they made so many billions all these years that they can survive without any flights for at least over a decade.. Can't say the same about the poor workers therw though..

futuramadramallama

Fwiw, quite a few carriers charge comparatively-exorbitant rates for their domestic flights. Air New Zealand is a pretty good example, I think. They have a similar fleet size (NZ has 64, A3 has 54, OA has 12) similar route patterns for short hop domestic flights, and a near monopoly on domestic flying. Anecdotally, they both way overcharge for domestic flights.

One might argue the US carriers do the same, even if the scale or ratios are different. Anyways, just commenting on the bit about A3 ripping off the domestic [Greek] market, and in fact, not even disputing that they do. Merely hoping to point out that numerous carriers seem to use their respective domestic markets to rake in the dough. A3 is hardly alone.