Greece's new, private Olympic Air to take off Oct. 1

ATHENS, Greece — Greece's new, private Olympic Air will start flights on Oct. 1, replacing the chronically loss-making state carrier Olympic Airlines, company officials said Thursday.

Andreas Vgenopoulos, executive chairman of Marfin Investment Group, said the airline will start with 21 aircraft serving domestic and international routes — including New York, through a code-sharing agreement with Delta Air Lines.

"We want to make the company a regional leader and ... if we have the opportunity, potentially one of the largest airlines in the world," Vgenopoulos said.

The company is finalizing a code-sharing agreement with Air France, and is seeking to join the Skyteam global airline alliance, which carries out more than 16,000 flights daily to 169 countries.

MIG won bids for the state carrier in March. The agreement followed the conservative Greek government's public appeal to investors, after a previous tender — the sixth effort to privatize the ailing airline — failed to attract sufficiently high bids.

Vgenopoulos said he was committed to allow the airline's re-nationalization if early elections next month bring the main opposition socialists to power. The socialists, who are up to 8 points ahead in the polls, have said they would like state participation in the carrier.

Vgenopoulos declined to estimate how deeply in the red the Olympic Airlines had sunk under state ownership. The government has said that the old carrier had been losing $1.5 million a day

"The operation of the old Olympic was the costliest hobby that every single Greek had in common — and without knowing," Vgenopoulos said.

Olympic will gradually increase its fleet of Airbus 319 and 320, Bombardier Q400 and Dash 100 aircraft to 32 planes, while the total investment plan for planes and spare parts is expected to reach $1.1 billion. The new company has a staff of 5,000, including many of 8,100 employed in the state carrier.

Founded by Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis in 1957, Olympic was nationalized in 1975.