Aviation History
Greek commercial aviation began with a short-lived 1951 merger of struggling domestic carriers into TAE Greek National Airlines, which folded in 1955. Shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis bought the state airline and relaunched it in 1957 as Olympic Airways, ushering in a period of rapid jet-age expansion including transatlantic service to New York by 1966. After a family tragedy, Onassis sold the airline back to the Greek state in the mid-1970s, and it operated as a state carrier for over three decades under mounting financial losses. Restructuring efforts led to a 2009 shutdown and replacement by a new private successor, Olympic Air, while a separate carrier founded in 1987, Aegean Airlines, grew into Greece's dominant airline and acquired Olympic Air in 2013. Today Greece's aviation market is shaped heavily by seasonal tourism demand and extensive low-cost carrier service from abroad.
Three struggling Greek airlines merged in 1951 to form TAE Greek National Airlines, which ceased operating by 1955.
Aristotle Onassis purchased the Greek state airline and relaunched it as Olympic Airways in 1957, beginning a period of major expansion.
Olympic Airways introduced de Havilland Comet 4B jets in 1960, marking Greece's entry into the jet age.
Olympic launched its first Boeing 707 nonstop service between Athens and New York in 1966.
Following the death of Onassis's son in a 1973 plane crash, Onassis sold his shares back to the Greek state, and Olympic became a state-controlled carrier by the mid-1970s.
Aegean Airlines was founded in 1987 and grew over subsequent decades into Greece's largest airline.
State-owned Olympic Airways ceased operations at the end of 2009 amid privatization efforts, succeeded by a newly formed private carrier, Olympic Air.
Aegean Airlines acquired Olympic Air in 2013, consolidating Greece's major scheduled carriers under one group.
Aegean Airlines · Olympic Air · Sky Express · Astra Airlines
General aviation-history sources (Wikipedia, Britannica, Greek news outlets); the Olympic Airways/Olympic Air naming history is easy to conflate, and current Greek airline market share figures may shift.
Aviation Firsts
Ellinikon International Airport — Athens (Elliniko) (1938): Opened 1938 as Kalamaki Airfield. Served as Greece's primary international gateway and home base of Olympic Airways for over 60 years; site of notable historical incidents (1973 attack, 1985 TWA 847 hijacking). Closed 28 Mar 2001 when operations moved to the new Athens International Airport; site partly redeveloped (2004 Olympics venues, now the Ellinikon Metropolitan Park project). An earlier military airfield, Tatoi Air Base (near Athens, said to date to around 1912 and still an active Hellenic Air Force installation), is a plausible older candidate but could not be independently re-verified from a page fetched this session, so it is reported only as unverified background. · Wikipedia ↗
Icarus (1930): Founded 1930; went bankrupt within months. The earliest dated Greek airline found, with no surviving lineage. · Wikipedia ↗
T.A.E. / Olympic Airways (1935): T.A.E. founded 1935 (privately owned); became TAE Greek National Airlines in 1951 (state merger of T.A.E. with Air Transport of Greece and the already-defunct Daedalus Airlines); bought by Aristotle Onassis in 1956 and renamed Olympic Airways on 6 Apr 1957, described by sources as a rename of the same company, not a new legal entity. That lineage (Olympic Airways → Olympic Airlines) ceased operations; the current Olympic Air (founded 23 Jan 2006) is explicitly not a legal successor per Wikipedia. · Wikipedia ↗
Icarus (1930) is the earliest dated Greek airline but failed within months with no continuity. T.A.E. (1935) is the oldest airline with a real continuous operating lineage, carried forward via mergers and a 1957 rename into Olympic Airways — but that lineage is now defunct, and the current Olympic Air (2006) is legally a fresh company, not its successor. No airline from this lineage is reported as 'operating' as a result.
Swissport (Swissport Hellas SA) (Switzerland), 2000: Swissport's corporate history states that in 2000 the company "expanded into Greece", and lists Swissport Hellas SA among its related companies. Greece's major domestic handler, Goldair Handling, is Greek-owned, so it does not qualify. No source explicitly frames the 2000 Swissport move as the first foreign ground handler in Greece, so this is tentative. (best-documented candidate found — not source-confirmed as literally first.) · Company Histories / Reference for Business ↗