Some months ago we booked a package holiday with Olympic Holidays for the 28th of August and at that time they were quoting for a Monarch flight - but I've just checked their website and they are nowquoting for a Sky Express (SEH) flight with the same flight times.
Can anyone enlighten me please!
cilan537,
Sky Express are a charter airline using a fleet of 2x MD83's leased from Meelad Air and operating under Sky Express AOC. They are relatively new to charter work having been a domestic carrier based in Crete. They offer a no frills flight experience. I've never used them personally, but reports back are generally fine.
Darren
Sky Express are a charter airline using a fleet of 2x MD83's leased from Meelad Air and operating under Sky Express AOC. They are relatively new to charter work having been a domestic carrier based in Crete. They offer a no frills flight experience. I've never used them personally, but reports back are generally fine.
Darren
cilan537,
Sky Express are a Greek airline using MD83 aircraft. The picture posted by Darren is of a Russian airline with the same name. I can't post a link to a picture but if you type into your search engine: Sky Express Greece MD83, there will hopefully be a picture and some information!
Sky Express are a Greek airline using MD83 aircraft. The picture posted by Darren is of a Russian airline with the same name. I can't post a link to a picture but if you type into your search engine: Sky Express Greece MD83, there will hopefully be a picture and some information!
http://www.airpics.net/photo/SX-BPP-McDonnell-Douglas-MD-83-Sky-Express-Greece/12754
Viking Hellas is part of the Viking group, last I knew it also had one MD-83 as well as a couple of leased Airbus A320s & a small plane for private charters.
http://www.flyviking.gr/
Viking Hellas is part of the Viking group, last I knew it also had one MD-83 as well as a couple of leased Airbus A320s & a small plane for private charters.
http://www.flyviking.gr/
I also booked a holiday for Symi several months ago. The flight shown was the usual Monarch one but I've just noticed that the website now shows a Sky Express flight at the same times. So far I have had no info from Olympic about this. I notice it's a "no frills" airline so I'm hoping that the standard won't be worse than Monarch (which was a pretty basic charter flight to begin with)
I too was all ready to book with Olympic and then found the flights had changed from Monarch to Sky Express (and the prices increased as well!). One thing I was a bit concerned about is that the logo Olympic show on the holiday details is that of the Russian Sky Express, not the Greek one. Does anyone know anything about the relationship (if any) between the two companies? I have some reservations about booking with a Russian airline, as I have heard that the safety and maintenance standards are sometimes not all they might be.
I have emailed Olympic holidays asking them which Sky Express company they are using. I'm also a bit concerned about safety standards on Russian airlines. I realise that in the current economic situation all businesses need to look at costings but this should not result in risks to the public.
They are using Sky Express of Greece, flt numbers SEH which is the greek charter operator.
... sighs with relief!
I was going to book a holiday in Greece recently with Olympic. I noticed that they were using Sun Express, so I googled it and found that it was a small Greek airline. I like to fly with a decent airline like Thomson or Thomas Cook, so I did not book with them.
Now Dazbo tells us that it has got 2 MD83s and I'm very glad I didn't book. These planes have been around for a long time and their punctuality has been rather patchy to put it mildly.
I have now booked a holiday to Naxos and will be flying from Birmingham to Santorini with Thomson on a Boeing 737-800. A nice safe newish plane.
Now Dazbo tells us that it has got 2 MD83s and I'm very glad I didn't book. These planes have been around for a long time and their punctuality has been rather patchy to put it mildly.
I have now booked a holiday to Naxos and will be flying from Birmingham to Santorini with Thomson on a Boeing 737-800. A nice safe newish plane.
Just to complicate matters a bit more, I have now noticed that the flights used by Olympic from Manchester to Chania which were with Monarch then with SkyExpress are now with Aegean Airways! Strange thing is that the times of all 3 are identical!
The MD83s that the Crete based airline wouldn't be large enough for the 09.45 Wednesday flight. I've used this flight for several years and it's always been an Airbus and a full one. I can only think that Olympic have realised that the Crete based Sky Express didn't have the aircraft to service this flight. Aegean Airway thankfully have much more modern aircraft. I raised this question on the Symi visitor website and got some excellent info from a contributor:-
http://symivisitor.forumco.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2103
http://symivisitor.forumco.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2103
Kojak wrote:The MD83s that the Crete based airline wouldn't be large enough for the 09.45 Wednesday flight.
The seating capacity of the MD83 is 172, the A320 180, so is plenty big enough. Any aircraft is large enough providing is has the range and you only sell the number of seats it has! Aegeans A320/321 accomodate 180/195 passengers respectively. The MD83 is more than capable of operating this service and has a proven track record. It may be an older design, but has stood the test of time. There's no need to worry about flying on this aircraft type.
Darren
Darren, I've flown in both planes. The airbus used for the 09.45 flight to Rhodes has been a big plane for several years now, I think an A330, seating in a 3-4-3 abreast style - much larger than the MDs.
Dazbo, you know tons more than me about planes.
But how many owners have these MD 83s had? They have been hacked around different dodgy airlines for years. You have only got to look at the Viking forum on this site from last year to hear what people think.
If an airline has 2 planes and 1 goes wrong, 50% of the planes are not in use. If Thomson has a plane problem they have got another 20 or so to replace it.
There are too many incidents with these small foreign airlines for my liking. Iffy maintenance, iffy pilots and more. Give me a respectable British airline any day, with well maintained Boeings or Airbuses.
But how many owners have these MD 83s had? They have been hacked around different dodgy airlines for years. You have only got to look at the Viking forum on this site from last year to hear what people think.
If an airline has 2 planes and 1 goes wrong, 50% of the planes are not in use. If Thomson has a plane problem they have got another 20 or so to replace it.
There are too many incidents with these small foreign airlines for my liking. Iffy maintenance, iffy pilots and more. Give me a respectable British airline any day, with well maintained Boeings or Airbuses.
I've just received notification from Olympic holidays of changes to my flights from Manchester for May & September this year. It's another change from the flights shown earlier on the Olympic Holidays website. The flight code shown now is STU and Olympic have added the following information:-
"The airline is called Strategic Airlines, which are an Australian carrier which have been operating successfully in Australia for some years and is now extending its operations to the UK and Europe. Its UK/European operations are under experienced UK management. Although Strategic is principally well known in Australia, we understand they have flown in Europe before for other tour operators such as TUI and Thomas Cook. The airline operates modern Airbus A320 aircraft."
"The airline is called Strategic Airlines, which are an Australian carrier which have been operating successfully in Australia for some years and is now extending its operations to the UK and Europe. Its UK/European operations are under experienced UK management. Although Strategic is principally well known in Australia, we understand they have flown in Europe before for other tour operators such as TUI and Thomas Cook. The airline operates modern Airbus A320 aircraft."
It's a long way from Australia with Strategic's elderly A320s.
Why Olympic use these odd airlines escapes me, when you can use Thomson Airlines or Thomas Cook.
I'm particular which planes I go on, I prefer a Boeing 757 with RR on the engines owned by a British airline.
I've booked a holiday with Sunvil to Naxos. I am flying from Birmingham to Santorini on a Thomson 737-800 and flying back to Manchester on a B757. If you wonder why I'm going back to another airport, well it suits the ferry times. I live near Derby which is between the 2.
Why Olympic use these odd airlines escapes me, when you can use Thomson Airlines or Thomas Cook.
I'm particular which planes I go on, I prefer a Boeing 757 with RR on the engines owned by a British airline.
I've booked a holiday with Sunvil to Naxos. I am flying from Birmingham to Santorini on a Thomson 737-800 and flying back to Manchester on a B757. If you wonder why I'm going back to another airport, well it suits the ferry times. I live near Derby which is between the 2.
Quite easy, Qman - they are cheaper than Thos Cook and Thompson! That's why Monarch went elsewhere because Olympic wouldn't pay them more to reflect the fuel increases. I think we are going to see a lot more cost cutting this year.
When I'm up in the air I would hate to think of cost cutting.
Pilots on minimum wage, double retread tyres, cheap engine oil and fifth hand planes like Strategic use.
No, if the holiday firm use cheapo airlines, I go to someone else.
By the way, how do you get the smilies on your posts?
Pilots on minimum wage, double retread tyres, cheap engine oil and fifth hand planes like Strategic use.
No, if the holiday firm use cheapo airlines, I go to someone else.
By the way, how do you get the smilies on your posts?
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