SKY Express (legally Cretan Aviation Operations Aviation and Commercial Societe Anonyme; ) is a Greek airline headquartered in Heraklion International Airport. 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 director general and pilot, and George Mavrantonakis, former Olympic Airlines chief operating officer and accountable manager as well as advisor to the company president. Operations commenced in July 2005, including scheduled, charter, cargo, air taxi, emergency medical services, excursion and sightseeing 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.

In October 2020, the airline placed a firm order for four Airbus A320neo aircraft (the fleet now includes six of them). In addition, the company introduced a new livery for their new Airbus aircraft.

Logo controversy The airline's initial logo was inspired by the flag of the Cretan State, a semi-independent state under the Ottoman Empire. 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. 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, especially Cretans, 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, but changed the logo nonetheless to avoid any further confusion.

Corporate affairs

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

2015201620172018201920202021202220232024 Turnover (€m)16.29916.61634.06861.47581.34054.940137.569287.690392.680479,580 Net profit after tax (€m)0.169 Number of employees7786129193229263462577 Number of passengers85,174168,116496,5621,000,0001,200,000TBA1,717,1913,303,9974,146,9214,771,934 Number of aircraft (at year end)6111111112018212529 Notes/sourcesBusiness RegistryΑΠΟΚΛΕΙΣΤΙΚΟ: Μεγαλύτερα αεροσκάφη προμηθεύεται η Sky Express. Διακίνησε 1,2 εκατ. επιβάτες το 2019, 20 January 2020, metaforespress.gr

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

Country or territoryCityAirportNotesRefsAlbaniaTiranaTirana International Airport Nënë Tereza ArmeniaYerevanZvartnots International Airport AustriaViennaVienna International Airport BelgiumBrusselsBrussels Airport BulgariaSofiaVasil Levski Sofia Airport CyprusLarnacaLarnaca Airport Czech RepublicPragueVáclav Havel Airport Prague FranceLilleLille AirportLyonLyon–Saint-Exupéry Airport MarseilleMarseille Provence AirportNantesNantes Atlantique AirportParisCharles de Gaulle Airport GeorgiaTbilisiTbilisi International Airport GermanyBerlinBerlin Brandenburg Airport DüsseldorfDüsseldorf Airport FrankfurtFrankfurt Airport HamburgHamburg Airport MunichMunich Airport GreeceAlexandroupoliAlexandroupoli Airport AstypalaiaAstypalaia Island National Airport AthensAthens International AirportChaniaChania International Airport ChiosChios Island National Airport CorfuCorfu International Airport HeraklionHeraklion International AirportIkariaIkaria Island National Airport KalymnosKalymnos Island National Airport KarpathosKarpathos Island National Airport KasosKasos Island Public Airport KastoriaKastoria National Airport KefaloniaKefalonia Airport KosKos International Airport KozaniKozani National Airport KytheraKithira Island National Airport LemnosLemnos International Airport LerosLeros Municipal Airport MilosMilos Island National Airport MykonosMykonos Airport MytileneMytilene International Airport NaxosNaxos Island National Airport ParosParos National Airport PrevezaAktion National Airport RhodesRhodes International Airport SamosSamos International Airport SantoriniSantorini International Airport SitiaSitia Airport SkiathosSkiathos Airport SkyrosSkyros Island National Airport SyrosSyros Island National Airport ThessalonikiThessaloniki AirportVolosNea Anchialos National AirportZakynthosZakynthos International Airport IsraelTel AvivDavid Ben Gurion International Airport ItalyMilanMilan Malpensa Airport RomeRome Fiumicino Airport The NetherlandsAmsterdamAmsterdam Schiphol Airport PolandWarsawWarsaw Chopin Airport PortugalLisbonLisbon Humberto Delgado Airport SpainMadridMadrid–Barajas Airport TurkeyIstanbulIstanbul Airport United KingdomLondonGatwick Airport

Codeshare agreements Sky Express codeshares with the following airlines:

Etihad Airways

Interline agreements Sky Express interlines with the following airlines:

Air France Air Serbia Air Transat American Airlines British Airways Condor Cyprus Airways Delta Air Lines El Al EasyJet Emirates Etihad Airways ITA Airways KLM Middle East Airlines Qatar Airways Royal Jordanian Transavia Turkish Airlines

Fleet

Current fleet , Sky Express operates the following aircraft:

+ Sky Express fleetAircraftIn serviceOrdersPassengersNotesAirbus A320-2001—180Airbus A320neo12—174180186Airbus A321neo2—236ATR 42-5004—48ATR 72-60010—72Total29—

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. 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 landings (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, experienced a left main gear collapse and runway excursion after a hard landing 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 (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