Olympic Airlines was the flag carrier

Flag carrier

A flag carrier is a transportation company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given country, enjoys preferential rights or privileges, accorded by the government, for international operations. It may be a state-run, state-owned or private but...

 airline of Greece, with its head office in Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

. It operated services to 37 domestic destinations and to 32 destinations world-wide. Its main base was at Athens International Airport, with hubs at Thessaloniki International Airport, "Macedonia" and Rhodes International Airport, "Diagoras". By December 2007, the airline employed about 8,500 staff.

Olympic Airlines was also accredited by IATA

International Air Transport Association

The International Air Transport Association is an international industry trade group of airlines headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where the International Civil Aviation Organization is also headquartered. The executive offices are at the Geneva Airport in SwitzerlandIATA's mission is to...

 with the IOSA

IATA Operational Safety Audit

The IATA Operational Safety Audit programme is an internationally recognised and accepted evaluation system designed to assess the operational management and control systems of an airline. IOSA uses internationally recognised quality audit principles and is designed to conduct audits in a...

 (IATA Operational Safety Audit) for its safety practices.

On March 6, 2009, the Greek State announced it had reached an agreement to sell the Flight operations, Ground Handling operations and Technical Base of the Group to Marfin Investment Group

Marfin Investment Group

Marfin Investment Group is a Greek investment company created in 1998 as Marfin Α.Ε.Π.Ε.Υ.. It has acquired several companies and has changed name several times since. In 2001 it acquired Piraeus Prime Bank and was renamed Marfin Bank...

, the largest Greek investment fund, thus ending a 35-year period of state ownership.

On 29 September 2009 Olympic Airlines ceased all of its operations and most of its flights and Olympic Air

Olympic Air

Olympic Air is the largest Greek airline by destinations served, formed from the privatisation of the former national carrier Olympic Airlines. Olympic Air commenced limited operations on 29 September 2009, after Olympic Airlines ceased all operations, with the official full-scale opening of the...

, the new airline commenced flights.