OLYMPICAirways is planning to launch North American flights from Manchester next summer.
The carrier is also restructuring its UK-Greece flights for summer 2000.
Both moves come after Olympic’s new management received government backing for a new business plan put forward by chief executive Rod Lynch after a review by British Airways consultancy arm Speedwing (Travel Weekly June 28).
The transatlantic plan involves a five-times weekly service from Athens to Manchester being used to feed a twice-weekly flight to Boston and thrice-weekly service to Toronto. The flights will be on new Airbus A340 aircraft.
Olympic’s general manager UK and Ireland Kostas Mandroukas confirmed plans to launch flights to the US and Canada and said open-skies agreements between Greece, the US and Canada had allowed the schedule.
He said: “We are waiting for slots to be awarded this month. The flights will start in the summer.”
Mandroukas also said flights to Greece from London were being rescheduled.
From April, thrice-daily Heathrow-Athens services will be separated from Thessaloniki flights.
The Thessaloniki services are being switched to Gatwick in order to offer a five-times weekly non-stop schedule.
Last summer, a four-times weekly service was linked into the Athens flights.
Mandroukas said A300s and B737s will operate to Athens and a B737 to Thessaloniki.
The airline is in the process of phasing out its A300s to be replaced by new, more efficient, B737-800s. Olympic is also planning to order 24 additional short-haul aircraft.
The carrier’s restructuring started in July with BA’s Speedwing taking over the management of the carrier as it attempts to make itself more efficient before joining a global alliance. BA-founded Oneworld is the likely target.
The business plan also calls for flights to other major European cities and New York from the Athens hub to be double daily, plus single daily flights to secondary European cities. Plans for new flights to the important ethnic markets of Australia and South Africa are also outlined.