Olympic Aviation

OLYMPIC AVIATION

Olympic Aviation was founded in 1971 by Alexandros Onassis, son of Aristotle Onassis, as a subsidiary of Olympic Airways.Its purpose was to link Greek islands to Athens.The first aircraft of the Aviation fleet were the two Skyvans and the Islander from the basic OA fleet.However, by no means was the entire OA domestic fleet transfered to O. Aviation;the DC-3s, NAMC YS-11As and DC-6s were never used by O. Aviation.Neither were the Boeing 737-200s, which where added to the fleet in 1976, and were extensively used on internal flights.Other aircraft used by Olympic Aviation are the Piper Aztec, Piper Navajo and Piaggio 136L2.In 1980 2 Shorts 330-200s entered the Olympic Aviation fleet.The following year 2 more aircraft of the same type entered the fleet,followed by a final two in 1982.The six Shorts 330-200s replaced the eight NAMC YS-11As,of which two were lost in accidents.The reason that the S 330s were less and smaller in capacity than the YS-11As can be traced back to the fact that a large number of internal destinations (e.g. Mitilini, Chios, Ioannina) were served by the B737-200.During 1981, Olympic Aviation purchased a second Islander.In 1983 O. Aviation decided to gradually withdraw the Skyvans and the Islanders.The aircraft chosen to replace them was the German 19 seater Dornier Do 228.A total of seven Do228s entered O. A.s fleet.Two aircraft entered the fleet in 1984, another three followed in 1985, with the final two aircraft being delivered in 1986.The Islanders were withdrawn in 1985.