TAE National Greek Airlines ( el, Τεχνικαί Αεροπορικαί Εκμεταλλεύσεις—Εθνικαί Αεροπορικαί Γραμμαί, , literally ''Technical and Aeronautical Holdings—National Air Lines''), originally branded in English as ''TAE National Greek Airlines'', was formed by the Greek government in 1951 to be the national

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. The airline operated without competition on domestic routes in Greece and served a small number of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an and

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

ern cities. The airline was sold to

Aristotle Onassis Aristotle Socrates Onassis (, ; el, Αριστοτέλης Ωνάσης, Aristotélis Onásis, ; 20 January 1906 – 15 March 1975), was a Greek-Argentinian shipping magnate who amassed the world's largest privately-owned shipping fleet and wa ...

in 1957 and he renamed the carrier

Olympic Airways Olympic Airlines ( el, Ολυμπιακές Αερογραμμές, ''Olympiakés Aerogrammés'' – OA), formerly named Olympic Airways for at least four decades, was the flag carrier airline of Greece. The airline's head office was located ...

History

In the post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

era, there were four airlines operating in Greece: *

Technical and Aeronautical Holdings Technical and Aeronautical Holdings ( el, Τεχνικαί Αεροπορικαί Εκμεταλλεύσεις) (T.A.E.) was a Greek airline formed in 1935 by Stephanos Zotos. It flew domestic routes until the German invasion of Greece in April ...

– T.A.E. ( el, Τεχνικαί Αεροπορικαί Εκμεταλλεύσεις – T.A.E.) *Greek Air Transport/

Hellenic Airlines Hellenic Airlines ( el, Ελληνικαί Αεροπορικαί Συγκοινωνίαι, also known by its literal name, Greek Air Transport), often abbreviated ΕΛΛ.Α.Σ. in Greek and sometimes also known as Hellas in English, was a Greek-f ...

– G.A.T. ( el, Ελληνικαί Αεροπορικαί Συγκοινωνίαι – ΕΛΛ.Α.Σ.) *Air Transport of Greece ( el, Αεροπορικαί Μεταφοραί Ελλάδος – Α.Μ.Ε.) *Daedalus Airlines ( el, Δαίδαλος) Of these, T.A.E., Air Transport of Greece and Daedalus Airlines were privately held and G.A.T. was publicly owned.. In 1950, Daedalus Airlines 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 The Douglas DC-4 is an American four-engined (piston), propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Military versions of the plane, the C-54 and R5D, served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960s ...

Skymaster and the rest were Douglas

DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...

Dakotas. The DC-4 was used primarily on the bi-weekly route from Athens to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Additionally, the airline served the Balkan cities of

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

and

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

Nicosia Nicosia ( ; el, Λευκωσία, Lefkosía ; tr, Lefkoşa ; hy, Նիկոսիա, romanized: ''Nikosia''; Cypriot Arabic: Nikusiya) is the largest city, capital, and seat of government of Cyprus. It is located near the centre of the Mesaor ...

in Cyprus and the Egyptian city of

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

. In 1955, the airline was not performing financially and the Greek state sought unsuccessfully to find a buyer. Eventually, Aristotle Onassis 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.

Destinations

TAE Greek National Airlines served a number of domestic destinations in Greece, as well as international destinations.

Domestic service

International service

Fleet

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tae Greek National Airlines Defunct airlines of Greece Airlines established in 1951 Airlines disestablished in 1957 Olympic Airlines 1951 establishments in Greece 1957 disestablishments in Greece Greek companies established in 1951