Olympic Air

Is Olympic Air safe?

Yes. Olympic Air has had no accident and has not lost an aircraft since it began flying in 2009. It flies under EU rules on its own Greek operating certificate, and it passed the IATA safety audit (IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary). We score it 85, four points below its parent Aegean Airlines.

The gap comes from where it flies and what it flies. Olympic Air is the turboprop arm of the Aegean group, and most of its flights go to small Greek islands with short runways and strong winds. Greek investigators have rated two of its flights serious incidents since 2022, one at each end of that kind of flying: a landing that left the runway in a gust, and an engine that failed with flames on take-off.

Is this the old Olympic Airways?

No, only the name and the rings are the same. The state airline Olympic Airways, later Olympic Airlines, was wound up in 2009. A new private company took over the brand and started flying that year. Aegean bought it later, and the European Commission cleared the purchase on 9 October 2013, after finding that Olympic would otherwise have gone out of business.

Olympic Air kept its own operating certificate, its own OA flight numbers and its own IATA membership, and investigators name it as the operator. That is why it has its own page, and why its record does not count against Aegean.

The crashes you may find under the Olympic name belong to the old companies. A Dornier 228 of Olympic Aviation, the old airline's regional arm, was written offHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary on landing at Paros in May 1997, with no deaths. None of that history passed to the new company.

What went wrong at Milos and Naxos?

On 14 January 2022, flight OA24 from Athens, an ATR 42 with 20 passengers, landed at Milos and veered left off the runway. It stopped on soft ground about 10 metres from the edge. The airline said strong side gusts pushed it off as it slowed down to taxi. Nobody was hurt and the damage was minor at most, but Greek investigators rated it a serious incident.

On 7 June 2025, flight OA17 to Athens, an ATR 72 with 45 passengers and 4 crew, was just leaving the runway at Naxos when the right engine banged and trailed flames. The crew got engine failure and fire warnings, shut the engine down and landed back at Naxos about 10 minutes later. HARSIA, Greece's investigation body, rated it a serious incident. Its report is not out yet.

The rest of the file is smaller. On 7 August 2023, two Olympic ATR 42s were on crossing paths at 9,000 feet south-east of Athens; their collision-avoidance systems told one crew to climb and the other to descend, and they passed about 1.3 nautical miles and 700 feet apart. In April 2025 a crew at Mytilene stopped on the runway and evacuated after an engine fire warning that turned out to be false; everyone got out unhurt. In July 2025 another ATR 72 shut down an engine on approach to Kithira and landed safely.

Two engine shutdowns in one summer is the trend we will watch. The Naxos report should say whether it was a one-off part failure or something in maintenance.

What does Olympic Air fly?

In September 2026 the Aegean group listed 12 ATR 72-600s, 3 ATR 42-600s and 2 Dash 8-100s, the turboprops that Olympic Air flies. The ATRs are the current version of Europe's standard regional turboprop, with glass cockpits. The two Dash 8-100s are much older: they are the original version of a design first flown in the 1980s, kept for the smallest airports. Aegean does not publish an average age, so we cannot give one.

Aegean's own A320 jets sometimes fill in on OA flight numbers. After the Mytilene evacuation, an Aegean A320 flew the return flight.

Island flying: what to expect

• Wind decides your day. In July and August the meltemi, a strong north wind, blows across the Cyclades, and winter gales bring the same problem. Approaches get rough, and flights divert or cancel when the crosswind is too strong. Milos in 2022 shows why that limit exists.
• Greek air traffic control is a weak point. On 4 January 2026 most radio frequencies in the Athens flight region failed and Greek airspace closed for several hours. It caused delays, not accidents, but leave slack in island connections.
• Listen to the briefing. On a 48- or 70-seat aircraft every seat is close to an exit, and at Mytilene the whole cabin was out on the runway in minutes. Know which door is yours before take-off.
• Keep your seat belt on. Turboprops fly lower than jets, often in the bumpiest air, and island approaches can turn rough near the ground.

How we scored it

The accident record (91) and oversight (90) are strong: no accidents since 2009 and the same EU and IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary oversight as Aegean. The incidents factor (76) loses points for Milos, Naxos and the 2025 engine shutdowns, the fleet (76) for the two old Dash 8-100s, and the environment (74) for windy island runways and Greek air traffic control. If you want a jet on a Greek route, check the operator: Aegean and Volotea fly A320-family aircraft to the larger islands.