Press Release: Olympic Airlines and Olympic Airways: two state aid decisions

The European Commission found that a plan submitted by the Greek authorities whereby certain assets of Olympic Airlines and Olympic Airways Services will be privatised in bundled form did not involve any State aid provided that the undertakings given by the Greek authorities were fully complied with. Thus Greece received the green light from the European Commission to proceed with the privatisation. This decision followed a separate but related decision taken by the Commission to partially close the formal State aid investigation procedure it opened on 19 December 2007 concerning State aid granted by Greece to Olympic Airways and Olympic Airlines. The Commission concluded that since its last decision in September 2005 concerning the Greek flag-carrier Olympic Airways Services and Olympic Airlines have received further State aid estimated at more than EUR 850 million. This Commission decision declared this aid to be incompatible with community law.