Greek airline Olympic Air said it had signed a deal with US carrier Delta Airlines on Thursday allowing code sharing on the Athens-New York route from October 1 in a bid to boost its global reach.
Olympic Air chief Antonis Simigdalas said the airline would also sign agreements with Air France-KLM, Cyprus Airways and Etihad Airways for flights to Canada, France and the Netherlands between now and March 2010.
Olympic Air is the successor to flag carrier Olympic Airways which was bought by Greek and United Arab Emirates (UAE) investment group Marfin (MIG) earlier this year. It is due to start operations on October 1.
“Our aim is to take a dominant role in the Greek market and in the region, and in the long term to become one of the biggest airlines” in the world, said Andreas Vgenopulos, the head of MIG.
He said the partnership with UAE carrier Etihad Airways would also allow Olympic Air to carry out flights to Abu Dhabi, Australia, China, Japan, South Africa and Southeast Asia.
Olympic Air has received investments totalling 1.1 billion dollars (746 million euros), employs 5,000 people, owns 32 planes and includes handling and engineering services, he added.
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