Globe Merchant Travel Blog

ATHENS, Oct 6 (Forbes) – Greek state carrier Olympic Airlines will cancel 100 flights on Wednesday as its workers join a 24-hour nationwide strike against the airline’s privatisation, it said in a statement on Monday.

The cancellations will affect flights between Athens and international destinations like London, Paris, Rome and Frankfurt, as well as some domestic flights.

Wednesday’s strike by workers from the transport sector and other state-owned companies will also hit Athens metro service and intercity trains. Unions are angry at the conservative government’s privatisation agenda and reforms of labour and pension benefits.

Union officials have said they would hold talks with union leaders from other European airlines, such as Alitalia, to discuss widening the protest.

Greece’s government last month launched a tender to sell off Olympic, which loses around 1 million euros a day. It has promised to compensate or find new public sector jobs for the workers, but union leaders have pledged to halt the sell-off.

Travel Dates & Times for Weekend Getaway Fares

Chicago O’Hare, IL (ORD) – London Heathrow, United Kingdom (LHR) $514
Chicago O’Hare, IL (ORD) – Rome L. Da Vinci, Italy (FCO) $730
Cozumel, Mexico (CZM) – Miami, FL (MIA) $368
Ft. Lauderdale, FL (FLL) – San Jose, Costa Rica (SJO) $158
George Town, Bahamas (GGT) – Miami, FL (MIA) $158
Miami, FL (MIA) – Cozumel, Mexico (CZM) $368
Miami, FL (MIA) – Freeport, Bahamas (FPO) $128
Miami, FL (MIA) – Guatemala City, Guatemala (GUA) $158
Miami, FL (MIA) – Managua, Nicaragua (MGA) $158
Miami, FL (MIA) – Panama City, Panama (PTY) $158
Miami, FL (MIA) – San Jose, Costa Rica (SJO) $158
Miami, FL (MIA) – San Pedro Sula, Honduras (SAP) $158
Nassau, Bahamas (NAS) – Miami, FL (MIA) $108
New York Kennedy, NY (JFK) – Rome L. Da Vinci, Italy (FCO) $720
Raleigh / Durham, NC (RDU) – London Heathrow, United Kingdom (LHR) $702
San Juan, PR (SJU) – Anguilla, Anguilla (AXA) $259
San Juan, PR (SJU) – Fort de France, Martinique (FDF) $345
San Juan, PR (SJU) – La Romana, Dominican Republic (LRM) $265
San Juan, PR (SJU) – Nevis, Nevis (NEV) $277
San Juan, PR (SJU) – St. Croix, USVI (STX) $179
San Juan, PR (SJU) – St. Thomas, USVI (STT) $179
San Juan, PR (SJU) – Tortola, British Virgin Islands (EIS) $235
St. Croix, USVI (STX) – San Juan, PR (SJU) $179
St. Thomas, USVI (STT) – San Juan, PR (SJU) $179

Depart anytime between Tuesday, October 14, 2008, and Friday, October 17, 2008.
Return anytime between Monday, October 20, 2008, and Wednesday, October 22, 2008.
Tickets must be purchased by this Sunday, October 12, 2008, 11:59 p.m. (CT).
Fares displayed are for round-trip coach class travel.

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ATHENS, Oct 5 (Reuters) – High fuel prices and a world credit crisis will affect Greek carrier Aegean Airlines’s (AGNr.AT: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) full-year results, its vice-president told a newspaper on Sunday.

“The rise in oil prices will affect our profitability for the full year but will not affect our cash flows, so that we take emergency measures,” Aegean Airlines vice-president Eftichios Vassilakis told Sunday’s To Vima newspaper.

The carrier competes with state-owned Olympic Airlines [OLY.UL], which is under privatisation. It posted a 13 percent drop in first-half net profit to 5.5 million euros, hurt by high fuel costs.

Vassilakis said a fuel hedging policy and strong cash reserves will help the carrier draft a budget with no surprises.

“The firm has cash reserves of 180 million euros and is in an advantageous position, since it is currently enjoying high yields, as the capital is invested in repos,” Vassilakis said.

In July, the carrier raised ticket surcharges for both domestic and international flights on increasing fuel costs, which account for about 35 percent of total company costs.

(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Erica Billingham)

International Herald Tribune
ATHENS, Greece: Several hundred Olympic Airlines employees and supporters marched to parliament Thursday to protest the Greek government’s plans to privatize the debt-ridden airline.

In September, the European Union approved Greece’s plan to break up and fully privatize Olympic by the end of 2009, transferring most of its 8,100 employees to public sector jobs. The company will keep its name and logo.

But the EU said Olympic must pay back state subsidies worth €850 million (US$1.22 million). Employee unions oppose the plan and have staged protests.

“There is room for a public, profitable Olympic Airlines, a proud Olympic that will not throw the employees out of work,” Manolis Patestos, leader of the Federation of Civil Aviation Unions, said as he marched.

He added, however, that employees did not plan any strike against airline operations.

The company has accumulated total losses of around €2.7 billion (US$3.87 billion).

Yiannis Panagopoulos, leader of Greece’s largest labor union, promised more protests.

“This is only the beginning,” Panagopoulos said. “They can’t sell off and destroy the productive fiber of this country.”

Workers at Greece’s utility companies have announced a strike next Wednesday in support of the Olympic Airline workers.

The government launched a bid Tuesday to sell Olympic, under the privatization plan that has received EU approval, and on Thursday debated related legislation in parliament.

“The tax payers must stop paying for this barrel that has no bottom,” Transport Minister Costis Hatzidakis told parliament. “We are also displaying sensitivity to (Olympic) employees who are totally covered and will not suffer any loss in pay.”

Since winning re-election last year, Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis’ government has faced repeated strikes and protests over its efforts to reform Greece’s economy. The government’s plans to overhaul the country’s debt-ridden and fractured pension system have been particularly unpopular.

The governing conservatives have been left with a razor-thin majority of 151 deputies in the 300-seat parliament after Karamanlis fired a rebellious deputy on Tuesday.

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Origin Destination Fare from
Boston Rome $ 751
Boston Vienna $ 769
Boston Moscow $ 822
Boston Athens $ 835
Chicago Barcelona $ 755
Chicago Lisbon $ 824
Chicago Rome $ 859
Chicago Brussels $ 877
Miami Madrid $ 793
Miami Barcelona $ 803
Miami Lisbon $ 863
Miami Munich $ 875
New York Barcelona $ 648
New York Lisbon $ 674
New York Moscow $ 757
New York Athens $ 788
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Washington D.C. Vienna $ 718
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Washington D.C. Paris $ 721

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Boston, MA Dublin, Ireland $240
Chicago, Il (ORD) Dublin, Ireland $300
Los Angeles, CA (LAX) Dublin, Ireland $330
Philadelphia, PA Dublin, Ireland $340
New York, NY (LGA) Bermuda $95
Washington DC (DCA) Bermuda $110
Philadelphia, PA Bermuda $140
Boston, MA Providenciales, Turks and Caicos $200
Charlotte, NC Providenciales, Turks and Caicos $230
Philadelphia, PA Providenciales, Turks and Caicos $240

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