TAE Greek National Airlines - History

History

In the post-World War II era, there were four airlines operating in Greece: T.A.E. (Technical and Aeronautical Exploitations/Greek: Τεχνικαί Αεροπορικαί Εκμεταλλεύσεις), G.A.T./ΕΛΛ.Α.Σ. (Greek Air Transport--Hellenic Airlines/Greek: ΕΛΛηνικαί Αεροπορικαί Συγκοινωνίαι), Α.Μ.Ε./Air Transport of Greece (Greek: Αεροπορικαί Μεταφοραί Ελλάδος) and Daedalus Airlines Greek: Δαίδαλος. Of these, T.A.E., Daedalus and A.M.E. were privately held and G.A.T. was publicly owned. In 1950, Daedalus ceased operations as the number of passengers for all Greek airlines declined precipitously. Due to the financial difficulties of all three carriers and to ensure that Greece maintained a Greek-flagged carrier, in 1951, the Greek government forced the merger of all three companies into TAE Greek National Airlines.

The 18 aircraft from the three merged airlines included 1 Douglas DC-4 Skymaster and the rest were Douglas DC-3 Dakotas. The DC-4 was used primarily on the bi-weekly route from Athens to Rome-Paris-London. Additionally, the airline served the Balkan cities of Belgrade and Istanbul, Nicosia in Cyprus and the Egyptian city of Alexandria

In 1955, the airline was not performing financially and the Greek state sought unsuccessfully to find a buyer. Eventually, Aristotle Onasis agreed to buy the ailing carrier in July, 1956. The company flew under the name T.A.E. until April, 1957, when the airline was renamed Olympic Airways.