SKY Express (legally Cretan Aviation Operations Aviation and Commercial Societe Anonyme; ) is a Greek airline headquartered in

Heraklion International Airport Heraklion or Herakleion ( ; , , ), sometimes Iraklion, is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in Greece with a municipal population of 179 ...

. It was established in 2005 and operates a number of flights, serving 35 domestic and eighteen international destinations year round. It is owned by Aviareps Hellas.

History

The airline was established in early 2005 by Miltiadis Tsagkarakis, former

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 ...

director general A director general, general director or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''general directors'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'') is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer ...

and pilot, and George Mavrantonakis, former Olympic Airlines

chief operating officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the C ...

and accountable manager as well as advisor to the company president. Operations commenced in July 2005, including scheduled,

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...

cargo In transportation, cargo refers to goods transported by land, water or air, while freight refers to its conveyance. In economics, freight refers to goods transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. The term cargo is also used in cas ...

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. History The concept of air taxis existed as early as the 1910s. This concept goes back as early as 1917 with Glenn Curtiss’ prototype, the auto-plane. Furthermor ...

emergency medical services Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services, pre-hospital care or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to d ...

excursion An excursion is a trip, usually made for leisure, education, or Physical exercise, physical purposes. It is often an adjunct to a longer journey or visit to a place, sometimes for other (typically work-related) purposes. Public transportatio ...

and

sightseeing Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity o ...

flights. Sky Express Aircargo was later established as a joint venture with the Finaval Group and dedicated to cargo transport between Europe and the

Far East The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...

. In October 2020, the airline placed a firm order for four

Airbus A320neo The Airbus A320neo family is an incremental development of the A320 family of narrow-body airliners produced by Airbus. The A320neo family (''neo'' being Greek for "new", as well as an acronym for "new engine option") is based on the Airbus A3 ...

aircraft (the fleet now includes six of them). In addition, the company introduced a new design for their new Airbus aircraft.

Logo controversy

The airline's initial logo was inspired by the flag of the

Cretan State The Cretan State (; ) was an autonomous state governing the island of Crete from 1898 to 1913, under ''de jure'' suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire but with ''de facto'' independence secured by European Great Powers. In 1897, the Cretan Revolt (18 ...

, a semi-independent state under the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. The flag of the Cretan State was composed of a white cross extending to the edges of the flag, with the upper-hoist canton in red, featuring a white star symbolizing Ottoman sovereignty on the island, and the other squares in blue, symbolizing the Greeks of

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

. The flag has also been adopted as a symbol of the Cretan independence pseudo-movement. The logo was not well-received, and following complaints by the public in

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 ...

, especially

Cretans Crete ( ; , Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and Corsica. Crete is loc ...

, the logo was changed. The company said it did not consider the flag offensive, since it represented a milestone in the unification of Crete with the

Kingdom of Greece The Kingdom of Greece (, Romanization, romanized: ''Vasíleion tis Elládos'', pronounced ) was the Greece, Greek Nation state, nation-state established in 1832 and was the successor state to the First Hellenic Republic. It was internationally ...

, but changed the logo nonetheless to avoid any further confusion.

Corporate affairs

In 2018, Sky Express carried 1 million passengers for the first time.

Destinations

, Greek carrier Sky Express flies (or has flown) to the following destinations:

Interline agreements

Sky Express interlines with the following airlines: *

Air France Air France (; legally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France, and is headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. The airline is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and is one of the founding members ...

Air Serbia Air Serbia (stylised as ''AirSERBIA''; ) is the flag carrier of Serbia. The company's headquarters is located in Belgrade, Serbia, and its main hub is Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport. The airline was known as Jat Airways until it was renamed a ...

Air Transat Air Transat () is a List of airlines of Canada, Canadian airline headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1986, it operates scheduled and charter flights serving 60 destinations in 25 countries. Air Transat is owned and operated by Transa ...

American Airlines American Airlines, Inc. is a major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, and is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the ...

British Airways British Airways plc (BA) is the flag carrier of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main Airline hub, hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and pass ...

Condor Condor is the common name for two species of New World vultures, each in a monotypic genus. The name derives from the Quechua language, Quechua ''kuntur''. They are the largest flying land birds in the Western Hemisphere. One species, the And ...

* Cyprus Airways *

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, operating nine hubs, with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being its ...

El Al EL AL Israel Airlines Ltd. (), trading as EL AL (, "Upwards", "To the Skies", or "Skywards", stylized as ELAL; ) is the flag carrier of Israel. Since its inaugural flight from Geneva to Tel Aviv in September 1948, the airline has grown to serve ...

EasyJet EasyJet plc (styled as easyJet) is a British multinational low-cost airline group headquartered at London Luton Airport. It operates domestic and international scheduled services on 927 routes in more than 34 countries via its affiliate airlin ...

Emirates Emirates may refer to: * United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective ...

Etihad Airways Etihad Airways is one of the two flag carriers of the United Arab Emirates (the other being Emirates). Its head office is in Khalifa City, Abu Dhabi, near Zayed International Airport. The airline commenced operations in November 2003, and ...

* KLM * Middle East Airlines *

Qatar Airways Qatar Airways Company Q.C.S.C. (, ''al-Qaṭariyya''), operating as Qatar Airways, is the flag carrier of Qatar. Headquartered in the Qatar Airways Tower in Doha, the airline operates a hub-and-spoke network, flying to over 170 internatio ...

Royal Jordanian Royal Jordanian Airlines (formerly known as Alia Royal Jordanian Airlines) is the flag carrier of Jordan with its head office in the capital, Amman. The airline operates scheduled international services over four continents from its main base at ...

Transavia Transavia Airlines C.V., trading as Transavia and formerly branded as ''transavia.com'', is a Dutch low-cost airline and a wholly owned subsidiary of KLM and therefore part of the Air France–KLM group. Its main base is Amsterdam Airport Sch ...

Turkish Airlines Turkish Airlines (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Türk Hava Yolları''), or legally Türk Hava Yolları Anonim Ortaklığı, is the flag carrier of Turkey. , it operates scheduled services to 352 destinations (including cargo) in Europe, Asia, Oce ...

Fleet

Current fleet

, Sky Express operates the following aircraft:

Historical fleet

In the past, Sky Express also operated the following types: * ATR 42-300 *

ATR 72-500 The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop, short-haul regional airliner developed and produced in France and Italy by aircraft manufacturer ATR. The number "72" in its name is derived from the aircraft's typical standard seating capacity of 72 pa ...

* BAe Jetstream 41 *

Boeing 747-200 The Boeing 747 is a long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2023. After the introduction of the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, ...

* McDonnell Douglas MD-83

Incidents

* On 12 February 2009, a BAe Jetstream 31 registered SX-SKY experienced a right main gear collapse after landing inbound from

Rhodes International Airport Rhodes International Airport "Diagoras" (Greek: Διεθνής Αερολιμένας Ρόδου "Διαγόρας"), or Diagoras International Airport , is located on the West side of the island of Rhodes in Greece. The facility is located jus ...

. None of the 15 passengers or three crew members were injured, but the aircraft suffered considerable damage to its right landing gear, wing and propeller. The aircraft was deemed beyond economical repair and was written off. The accident was caused by two previous

hard landing A hard landing occurs when an aircraft or spacecraft hits the ground with a greater vertical speed and force than in a normal landing. The terms ''hard landing'' and ''firm landing'' are often confused though are inherently different. A hard la ...

s (out of the previous 27) which had gone unreported. One of the hard landings had caused a fracture in a landing gear cylinder, which spread until the cylinder failed, causing the landing gear to collapse. The aircraft was scrapped at Heraklion Airport in late February 2011. * On 2 February 2015, a BAe Jetstream 41 aircraft registered SX-DIA, operating flight GQ-100 from

Heraklion Heraklion or Herakleion ( ; , , ), sometimes Iraklion, is the largest city and the administrative capital city, capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion (regional unit), Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in G ...

, experienced a left main gear collapse and

runway excursion A runway excursion is a runway safety incident in which an aircraft makes an inappropriate exit from the runway. This happens mainly due to late landings or inappropriate runway choice. There are several types of runway excursions: * A depa ...

after a

at Rhodes Diagoras Airport caused by strong winds. None of the 16 passengers or three crew members were injured. The aircraft suffered substantial damage. * On 21 June 2019, the 3 PM flight from Heraklion to Rhodes Diagoras Airport performed an emergency landing at Karpathos Airport after one of the engines exploded. None of the 47 passengers suffered any injuries.

References

External links

*
Sky Express fleet from airfleets.net

Sky Express (Greece) on ch-aviation.com

Report no 08 / 2009 on SX-SKY by the Air Accident Investigation & Aviation Safety Board

Report no 03 / 2018 on SX-DIA by the Air Accident Investigation & Aviation Safety Board
{{Airlines of Greece Airlines established in 2005 Airlines of Greece Greek companies established in 2005