Thanos Pascalis is the chief operating officer at Olympic Air. He admitted that the airline is possibly in trouble.
Speaking at the Future of Air Transport 2010 conference in London, Thanos blamed the economy in Greece.
“Passenger traffic is down,” he confirmed, while competition from no-frills carriers is a problem on key routes.
According to Thanos, the planned merger with Aegean Airlines is the only way for Olympic to secure a solid future. This is still an ongoing investigation by the European Union.
“Having two full-service airlines in Greece is not sustainable,” he said.
“The only solution is consolidation,” said Thanos, which would achieve economies of scale.
He said: “We want to create a viable leading airline in Greece.”
The EU is expected to give its decision on the merger on January 12th.
Thanos said the international network of the two airlines is unlikely to pose a problem. However the pair’s extensive domestic networks may be a monopolistic issue.
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