Olympic Airlines cuts flights to save money

Greece's cash-strapped national carrier Olympic Airlines on Friday said it was axing a loss-making service to London's Gatwick Airport and cutting back on another four overseas flights to cut costs. "The decision to streamline the flight programme is dictated by the company's major financial difficulties, the size of the available fleet and the adverse international situation caused by high fuel costs," OA said.

In addition to scrapping a flight between the northern Greek city of Salonika and Gatwick, which was running up losses of 3.6 million euros (5.33 million dollars) a year, the company will also reduce flights to Frankfurt, Munich, Stuttgart and Dubai. Annual losses on these flights amount to 22.1 million euros, OA said.

The company is also examining the prospect of entering into commercial partnerships with other carriers to reduce its airport charges abroad.

The Greek government has spent years seeking private investors to take over Olympic Airlines but the process is complicated by the European Commission's demand that OA repay around 700 million euros in past illegal state aid. tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomson.com afp/ra



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