Despite continuing to post some relatively impressive gains in passenger numbers during the first quarter of this year, Olympic Airways managing director Rob Lynch faces criticism from within the increasingly vocal workforce.
It accuses Lynch of mismanagement, claiming Olympic's financial situation is deteriorating. Lynch made improved employee relations a cornerstone of his turnaround policy for the company.
Olympic reiterates that it is on course to cut last year's loss of 30 billion drachmas ($80 million) to around 18 billion drachmas by the end of 2000.
Some of this will be achieved by a 7% cut in loss-making domestic operations, where private sector rivals Aegean Air, Cronus Airlines and Air Manos continue to eat into market share, despite attempts by Lynch to downplay their importance. Olympic operates on 34 domestic routes, while the other companies' combined network amounts to 16 destinations.
Aegean Air, Greece's longest established private operator, claims to have captured a 35% domestic market share after just eight months of operation. The airline has announced a 50 billion drachma investment programme, which will boost its fleet to nine aircraft. It has recently signed a codeshare agreement with Cronus on internal and overseas flights, giving a combined fleet of 15 aircraft, deployed on 18 routes.
Scheduled international routes, which account for 80% of Olympic's revenue, have only recently been targeted by the opposition, a situation prompted by the flag carrier's decision to pull out of the loss-making Athens-Melbourne route. Cronus immediately stated its intention to offer an alternative service to Melbourne, forcing Olympic to announce a review.
Source: Airline Business
