Olympic Air

Anyone vacationing in Greece and waiting at a small island airport will almost certainly see a propeller aircraft with six rings in its logo at some point. That is Olympic Air – the regional subsidiary of Aegean Airlines, which uses ATR turboprops and two aging Dash 8s to fly the routes where a jet is too big or a runway too short. The name sounds traditional, but the airline itself only launched in 2009. This page shows you what is behind Olympic Air, which aircraft to expect and how to identify them cleanly.

Olympic Air at a glance

Olympic Air is a Greek regional airline based at Athens Airport. It has been wholly owned by Aegean Airlines since October 2013 and today flies mainly short routes within Greece. The hubs are Athens and Thessaloniki, plus Rhodes as a smaller base in the southeastern Aegean.

The business model is clearly defined: Olympic Air connects the country’s two big cities with islands and regional airports whose runways are short or whose demand is too low for an Airbus. Some of these routes operate as publicly subsidized services, because without air service the islands would be hard to reach in winter. There are also a few nearby international destinations.

What makes it exciting for spotters is the size: with around 18 aircraft, the fleet is so small that you can log almost all of it over a few Greek vacations. At the same time, you practically never see Olympic Air outside Greece – which makes every sighting a real travel subject.

History: from state carrier to Aegean subsidiary

To understand Olympic Air, you have to go back a step. For decades, Olympic Airways, later called Olympic Airlines, was Greece’s state-owned airline. The airline was deep in financial trouble, and the European Commission ruled state aid to be unlawful. In 2008, the Greek government therefore announced a fresh start: flight operations were to be privatized.

A first international tender failed in early 2009. In March 2009, the investment company Marfin Investment Group finally got the deal. It took over flight operations, the maintenance base and ground handling, along with the “Olympic” brand, the logo with the six rings and selected takeoff and landing slots.

On September 29, 2009, Olympic Air began flight operations, at first with a reduced network. Important: Olympic Air is not the legal successor of the old state airline. It carries the name and uses the old IATA code OA, but it is a new company.

The long road to Aegean

As early as February 2010, Olympic Air and Aegean announced a merger. The European Commission examined the plan at length and blocked it in January 2011: together, the two airlines would have almost completely dominated the Greek domestic market. Olympic Air then restructured its network.

In October 2012, the two airlines agreed again, this time on a full takeover by Aegean. The European Commission approved the purchase in October 2013; the environment had changed considerably since the first attempt. The purchase was completed on October 23, 2013. Since February 2014, Olympic Air has operated as a service provider for Aegean, and in November 2014 its own frequent flyer program was merged into its parent’s Miles+Bonus program.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code OA: comes from the former Olympic Airlines and appears in the flight number on domestic flights.
• ICAO code OAL: appears in the flight plan filed with air traffic control and on most flight trackers.
• Callsign OLYMPIC: this is how the crew identifies itself on the radio.

The close integration with the parent causes some confusion. Since 2014, many Olympic flights – especially on international routes – operate under an Aegean flight number with A3, while Olympic Air provides the aircraft and crew. A codeshare with Aegean is also common on domestic flights. What matters for you is therefore the ICAO code: if the tracker shows OAL, Olympic Air is flying; if it shows AEE, Aegean itself is flying. The background is explained in the guides to IATA and ICAO codes, to ICAO type codes like AT76 and to the difference between callsign and flight number.

The fleet: ATR and Dash 8

Olympic Air is now a pure turboprop airline. According to available fleet overviews, the fleet looks roughly like this in fall 2026:

Type	Count (as of fall 2026)	Seats	Spotter note
ATR 72-600	around 13	72	Backbone of the fleet; two more on order for December 2026
ATR 42-600	3	just under 50	Shorter version for small islands with short runways
Dash 8-100	2	37	Oldest aircraft in the Aegean group, over 30 years old

The numbers vary slightly depending on the source. In October 2025, Olympic Air took delivery of a new ATR 72-600 with the registration SX-OBU; it was the last aircraft from an earlier order. At the same time, Aegean ordered two more ATR 72-600s directly from the manufacturer ATR, with delivery planned for December 2026. A look at a current fleet list will tell you whether they are already flying by the time you read this page.

ATR 72-600 and ATR 42-600

The ATR 72-600 is Olympic Air’s workhorse. With 72 seats, it covers the island routes with more demand. The shorter ATR 42-600 is used where fewer passengers fly or the runway is short. The two types look very similar: high wing, T-tail, two turboprops under the wing. You tell them apart by fuselage length – the 72 looks noticeably more stretched.

Dash 8-100: the oldtimers

Two Dash 8-100s from De Havilland Canada are still part of the fleet. At over 30 years old, they are by far the oldest aircraft in the entire Aegean group. That makes them the most interesting Olympic aircraft for spotters: few examples, a type that has become rare in Europe and no guarantee how long they will keep flying.

Former types

Olympic Air looked different at the very beginning. At the 2009 launch, the airline flew leased jets of the Airbus A320 family, including the A319 and A320. At the 2009 Paris Air Show, Olympic Air also ordered eight Dash 8-400s, at the time built by Bombardier. After the Aegean takeover, most of the Airbus jets moved to the parent in 2013 and 2014; two A319s still served selected domestic routes in summer 2013. The group later replaced the Q400s with ATR 72-600s as part of its fleet renewal. Photos of Olympic Airbuses or Olympic Q400s are therefore a matter for the archive today.

How to recognize Olympic Air

The most important identifying feature is the logo with six interlocking rings. It deliberately echoes the emblem of the old Olympic Airways; the airline chose it in 2009 by online vote. According to the airline, the six rings stand for the five continents and Greece. Every aircraft carries the “Olympic” titles on the fuselage.

Because the fleet consists of only three types, identification is actually easy – as long as you can tell an ATR from a Dash 8:

If you want to identify turboprops more reliably in general, the guide How to tell ATRs and Dash 8s apart will help. And so the propellers do not look frozen in your photo, read the article on shutter speed for propeller aircraft.

Spotting Olympic Air

For most spotters from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Olympic Air is a vacation subject. There are no regular flights to the German-speaking region. Your best chances are at the hubs and on the islands:

• Athens: A large share of Olympic flights depart from Athens Airport. Here you see ATRs and Aegean Airbuses alternating.
• Thessaloniki: Thessaloniki Airport is the second hub and the starting point for many routes in northern Greece and to the islands of the northern Aegean.
• Rhodes: At Rhodes Airport, Olympic Air maintains a smaller base for connections in the Dodecanese region.
• Island airports: On small islands like Milos, almost only turboprops land. There, an Olympic ATR is often the only scheduled aircraft of the day.

Small island airports have their own charm: short runways, plenty of wind and scenery in the background. In January 2022, an Olympic Air ATR 42-600 slid off the runway after landing on Milos in strong winds; nobody was injured. That shows how demanding these airfields can be – and why crosswind landings are a popular subject there. How to approach such small airfields is described in the guide to spotting at regional airports. How to put such landings in context is explained in the article on crosswind landings.

Before you take out your camera in Greece, find out about the local rules. Since the Kalamata case in 2001, Greece has been a sensitive place for spotters. The article Plane spotting in Greece today summarizes what applies now, and you will find practical tips on airports and spots in the guide Plane spotting in Greece.

Olympic Air compared

Within Greece, Olympic Air is not alone. SKY express also flies many domestic routes and island connections; with Ellinair there is another Greek airline with its own history. There is a clear division of labor with the parent Aegean Airlines: Aegean flies the Airbus jets, Olympic Air the turboprops.

In Europe, Olympic Air resembles airlines such as Binter Canarias in the Canary Islands, Widerøe in Norway or Loganair in Scotland – all regional airlines that connect remote islands and coastal towns with turboprops. For a bigger picture, see the article on regional airlines in Europe.

Through its parent, Olympic Air is connected to Star Alliance but is not a full member in its own right. For you as a passenger, that means you earn miles through Miles+Bonus; as a spotter, nothing changes about the aircraft.

Common mix-ups

• Equating Olympic Air with Olympic Airways – the old state airline flew until 2009, while Olympic Air is a new company.
• Assuming an A3 flight number means an Aegean Airbus – many A3 flights are operated by Olympic ATRs. The ICAO code OAL decides.
• Confusing the ATR 42 and ATR 72 – the 72 is much longer and has more windows.
• Mistaking a Dash 8-100 for an ATR – look for the long engine nacelles that the landing gear retracts into.
• Mistaking OA for a country or airport code – OA is solely the airline’s IATA code.
• Seeing Olympic Air as an independent competitor of Aegean – since 2013 it has been wholly part of the Aegean group.

Conclusion

Olympic Air carries a big name but is a small, sharply focused regional airline. Since the Aegean takeover, it flies only turboprops and connects Athens, Thessaloniki and Rhodes with islands and regional airports. For spotters, that is a rewarding target: a manageable fleet, a distinctive six-rings logo and, with the two Dash 8-100s, true rarities. Note the registration and type, and your vacation photo becomes a complete logbook entry.