LOSS-making carrier Olympic Airways has agreed a five-year plan with its owner, the Greek government, to make it profitable.
The government has set out a timetable for privatisation, the streamlining of routes and a link-up with the Oneworld global alliance, led by British Airways.
In 1998, the carrier recorded a loss of £16m and is predicted to post a similar figure for 1999.
Chief executive Rod Lynch said the first stage of the plan is expected to take the form of a partial sell-off next year with the rest of the carrier sold off by 2001.
Lynch said 6%-10% of shares will go to staff, with the rest going to airline partners. BA is looking at taking a 10%-20% stake along with institutional investors. The flotation will be on the London and Athens stock markets.
Lynch said the the proposals were subject to approval by the European Commission which has frozen £16m of government aid to Olympic as it studies the latest restructuring plan.
Lynch said he would not be making any of the carrier’s 10,000 staff redundant to save money.
He said further improvements would be made on board aircraft with newly refurbished cabins. The airline is also set to rebrand by 2001.
Networks are being altered to feed traffic into key destinations in the US, Australia, the Middle East and Europe, and will be at least double-daily services. This will mean some routes being axed. Codesharing with BA is also planned.
Lynch, former managing director of Air Europe brought in to rescue the airline this summer, said Olympic’s hub at the new Athens airport would be used by Oneworld as a base for its central and eastern European operations. It is due to open in 2001.