Macedonian Airlines (, transliterated ''Makedonikes Aerogrammes'') was a subsidiary of

Olympic Airways Olympic Airlines (, ''Olympiakés Aerogrammés'' – OA), formerly named Olympic Airways, was the flag carrier airline of Greece. The airline's head office was located in Athens. The airline operated services to 37 domestic destinations and ...

, the former national

flag carrier A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by that government for international operations. Histo ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. The company ceased operations in 2003, when it took over the operations of

and was renamed

Olympic Airlines Olympic Airlines (, ''Olympiakés Aerogrammés'' – OA), formerly named Olympic Airways, was the flag carrier airline of Greece. The airline's head office was located in Athens. The airline operated services to 37 domestic destinations and ...

Macedonian Airlines Greece Boeing 737-400 KvW

History

1992–2003

Macedonian Airlines was created in 1992 as the charter subsidiary of the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

national airline, Olympic Airways. The Olympic Airways management board decided to rename the charter subsidiary of the Group, Olympic AirTours in 1992, and the Macedonian Airlines brand name was created. The company had nothing to do with

MAT Macedonian Airlines MAT Macedonian Airlines (, Transliteration of Macedonian, tr: ''Makedonski Aviotransport (MAT)'') was the national flag carrier airline of the Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia). It operated scheduled services between Skopje and Ohrid an ...

, which was founded two years later, in 1994, in neighbouring

Republic of North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

. Macedonian followed the trails of its predecessor, Olympic AirTours, mainly for vacation planning until 1998. This year the airline acquired two B727-200 from Olympic Airways. Starting with these aircraft, Macedonian offered

charter flights Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft (i.e., chartering) as opposed to individual aircraft seats (i.e., purchasing a ticket through a traditional airline). Regulation Charter – also called air taxi or ad hoc – flights ...

of the Greek islands and the mainland abroad European. The society had reached agreements with different large tour operators. One year later, in 1999, the airline used new aircraft, by leasing two

B737-400 The Boeing 737 Classic is a series of narrow-body airliners produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, the second generation of the Boeing 737 series of aircraft. Development began in 1979 and the first variant, the 737-300, first flew in Febru ...

to replace the already aged Boeing 727s. Since the company was an

subsidiary, all maintenance and handling were operated by the parent company,

. Until 2003, Macedonian's fleet was also used on OA scheduled services, especially after the older Boeing 737-200s were phased out. In July 2003, the company leased two

McDonnell Douglas MD-82 The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 is a series of five-abreast single-aisle airliners developed by McDonnell Douglas. It was produced by the developer company until August 1997 and then by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The MD-80 was the second gener ...

that also used on charter flights. On 12 December 2003, due to the mounting problems of the Olympic Airways Group, a restructuring plan was formed. Macedonian Airlines was separated from the Group, renamed

and took over all the data and flight operations of Olympic Airways (including the

IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is an airline trade association founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tariff conferences tha ...

and

ICAO The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international sch ...

codes).

Former fleet

References

External links

Macedonian Airlines official site

Macedonian Airlines Virtual

Olympic Air

History of the Macedonian Airlines

MIG To Relaunch Macedonian Airlines
{{Olympic Air Defunct airlines of Greece Airlines established in 1992 Airlines disestablished in 2003 Olympic Airlines Greek companies established in 1992