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Olympic Air has services eleven destinations outside the EU until now and now it will compete for at least six out of them with another five private airlines.

The eleven destinations are from Greece to South Africa, Canada, Albania, Kuwait, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Russia, Serbia, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey. The companies, which will take the destinations, will be chosen based on agreed conditions, which they have signed with the Greek state and which differ according to destination.

The competition between the airlines is expected to be fierce regarding destinations, which are supposed to be serviced only by one company – Albania (Athens-Tirana), Israel (Athens-Tel Aviv), Serbia (Athens-Belgrade), and South Africa (Athens-Johannesburg and Athens-Cape Town). Also it is expected that the companies will show great interest to destinations, where two airlines are allowed to fly – Canada (flights to Montreal and Toronto) and Russia (flights to Moscow and Saint Petersburg).

The contracts do not have limitations on how many carriers can service the following destinations: Egypt (Cairo and Alexandria), Kuwait, Lebanon (Beirut), Turkey (flights from Athens, Thessaloniki and Iraklio to Istanbul and Izmir) and to the United Arab Emirates.

The fight for the destinations outside the EU will be among: Olympic Air, Aegean Airlines, Athens Airways, Hellas Jet and Hellenic Imperial Air.

Olympic Air will compete for all destinations and entering the competition is also Aegean Airlines, which in the past have showed interest to fly to Tel Aviv, Tirana, Belgrade and Moscow. Athens Airways is interested to fly to seven destinations – Belgrade, Tirana, Tel Aviv, Cairo, Kuwait, Beirut and Turkey.

The Greek Civil Aviation Services announced that all airlines, which want to serve those destinations, should express their interest in written form and the deadline is today. Later on the Services will chose which airline will serve which destination.

Meanwhile, over 100 former employees of Olympic protested this morning because they were left without a job when the company was privatized. They want to receive their compensations according to the law. Representatives noted that many of the former employees have worked on seasonal contracts during the summer months for the last 15 years.