Gov’t wants speedy EU probe into OA
Transport and Communications Minister Christos Verelis said after a meeting with EU Commissioner Loyola de Palacio in Athens on Monday that Greece has not violated EU regulations by granting illegal state subsidies to Olympic Airways (OA), adding that he had asked for an examination of the issue to be expedited, as delays were further damaging to the carrier. He estimated, however, that the probe could take months or even years. He said that OA’s new rationalized flight program, which involved the integration of the flights of its two subsidiaries, Macedonian Airlines and Olympic Aviation, with its own was already bearing results in the form of cost cutting and improved services. Verelis said that tentative signs of an improved climate in the air transport industry could also boost interest in the privatization of the carrier – which has been twice unsuccessful. Meanwhile, in a letter to Thessaloniki City Council, OA president Dionysis Kalofonos said the termination of three flights to and from the city was part of drastic but necessary cost-cutting measures that did not affect only Thessaloniki.
