Greek Airlines Cry Foul Over Merger Ban
Two of the biggest carriers in Greece, Aegean Airlines and Olympic Airlines, hit out today at the European Commission for blocking a planned merger that they said would have helped their country's economy and provided passengers with more cheap flights to Greece's islands.
The Commission said that the proposal would have been bad for customers and the nation's aviation sector. Their reasoning was that it would have led to the creation of a "quasi-monopoly" among domestic Greece flights that would have pushed up prices and lowered the quality of service for Greek nationals and people wanting to fly to the islands on their Greece holidays.
Aegean chairman Theodore Vassilakis rejected the argument, insisting that the proposed merger contained both measures designed to offer consumers protection, as well as measures to stop new airlines being prevented from entering their domestic flights market. "An important opportunity for a consolidated representation in the European aviation market has been lost," Mr Vassilakis complained.
Chairman of the Marfin Investment Group which owns Olympic Airlines, Andreas Vgenopoulos, added: "The EC Decision will have negative consequences for consumers as well as our country's economy, while it will benefit foreign competitors."
However, EU Competition Commissioner Joaquín Almunia responded that the measures spoken of by Mr Vassilakis were inadequate to offer true customer protection. "The merger between Aegean and Olympic would have led to a quasi-monopoly in Greece and thus to higher prices and lower quality of service for Greeks and tourists travelling between Athens and the islands," he insisted.
Greece holidays are perennially popular among travellers from all over Europe, and the EU is determined to ensure that there are plenty of cheap flights available to the sunshine destination.
Travel Industry News posted by 
on 27 January 2011
