Hellenic Imperial Airways was an

airline An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in wh ...

which had its head office in

Ellinikon Elliniko ( el, Ελληνικό, meaning "Greek") is a coastal suburb of Athens, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it is part of the municipality Elliniko-Argyroupoli, of which it is a municipal unit. Elliniko is known for the Hell ...

South Athens South Athens ( el, Νότιος Τομέας Αθηνών) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Attica. The regional unit covers the south-central part of the agglomeration of Athens. Administration As a part of the ...

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 ...

. It operated charter and scheduled flights. The company slogan was ''Your direct flight around the globe!''

History

The airline was incorporated in May 2006 by a team of industry veterans and operated charter flights and aircraft leasing on an ACMI basis. The airline's head office was in

Elliniko Elliniko ( el, Ελληνικό, meaning "Greek") is a coastal suburb of Athens, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it is part of the municipality Elliniko-Argyroupoli, of which it is a municipal unit. Elliniko is known for the Hell ...

. The

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

offices were at the Axis House in Harlington,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

Borough of Hillingdon. The

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

offices were the Holiday House in

Randburg Randburg is an area located in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Formerly a separate municipality, its administration devolved to the newly created City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, along with neighbouring Sandton and Roodepoort, ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...

.Contact Us
." Hellenic Imperial Airways. Retrieved on 10 May 2011. "Athens / Greece Hellenic Imperial Airways (Head Offices) 22, Vouliagmenis Ave. 16777 Hellinikon Athens - Greece" and "London / United Kingdom Hellenic Imperial Airways Axis House 242 Bath Road Harlington UB3 5AY" and "Johannesburg / South Africa Hellenic Imperial Airways Holiday House 156 Bram Fischer Drive Randburg 2125 Johannesburg" The airline commenced scheduled operations on 30 May 2009 with services between Athens and Birmingham UK, Jeddah Saudi Arabia, and Casablanca Morocco. Hellenic Imperial Airways launched its new website in April 2010 as a part of a promotional campaign for the company's new activities. The new website allowed customers to book services online and had live news feeds regarding flights and services. In early May 2010, Hellenic Imperial announced it was to begin scheduled services to Johannesburg's

OR Tambo International Airport O. R. Tambo International Airport is an international airport situated in Kempton Park, Gauteng, South Africa. It serves as the primary airport for domestic and international travel to/from South Africa and since 2020, it is Africa's second ...

on 8 June 2010. These flights filled the gap left by Olympic Airlines when it ceased services to the airport the previous September. During the 2011 Libyan civil war Hellenic Imperial Airways operated charter services from Tripoli to Heraklion and from Heraklion directly to Bangkok, Shanghai, Beijing and Hanoi. In total the carrier evacuated 3,000 Chinese citizens from Libya via Greece.Hellenic Imperial Airways , Press Releases
On 24 June 2011, Hellenic Imperial Airways inaugurated its first direct flight HT0411 from Athens to New York JFK operated by Boeing 747-200B as opposed to the planned

Airbus A340-300 The Airbus A340 is a long-range, wide-body passenger airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. In the mid-1970s, Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner, and developed the A340 quadjet in parallel wit ...

Pakistan International Airlines Pakistan International Airlines ( ur, ; abbreviated PIA, ur, ) is an international airline that serves as the national flag carrier of Pakistan under the administrative control of the Secretary to the Government of Pakistan for Aviation. It ...

had leased two Boeing 747-200 during the Hajj 2011 for domestic operations within Pakistan. At the end of 2011, Hellenic Imperial Airways suspended all of its scheduled flights. It operated very few charter flights in 2012; since then, the airline has suspended operations. Two of its Boeing 747-200B aircraft were abandoned at

Athens International Airport Athens International Airport ''Eleftherios Venizelos'' ( el, Διεθνής Αερολιμένας Αθηνών «Ελευθέριος Βενιζέλος», ''Diethnís Aeroliménas Athinón "Elefthérios Venizélos"''), commonly initialised as ...

while the remaining two were stored at Karachi and Jakarta. In March 2015, former employees were granted the right by a Greek court to auction off for sale the remaining two 747s which were abandoned at Athens. Later that month the aircraft were to be ferried to Pakistan although in mid-flight the aircraft were diverted to Iran and entered into the Iran Air fleet. One of these airplanes is still stored at Athens International Airport.

Destinations

Scheduled operations

Hellenic Imperial Airways served the following scheduled destinations: *Greece **Athens - Base *Kuwait **Kuwait City - (Never inaugurated, although loaded onto schedules) *Morocco **Casablanca *Saudi Arabia **Jeddah *South Africa **Johannesburg *United Kingdom **Birmingham **London - Gatwick (Never inaugurated, although loaded onto schedules) *United States of America **New York - JFK

Charter operations

Hellenic Imperial Airways operated charter services throughout Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the Americas along with ACIM and wet-lease operations.

Fleet

Hellenic Imperial Airways Boeing 747-200 Bidini

The Hellenic Imperial Airways fleet consisted of the following aircraft: Boeing 747-200B * SX-TIE - Withdrawn from service 2012 & stored at Jakarta CGK * SX-TID - Withdrawn from service 2012 & stored at Athens, sold to Iran Air 2015; still stored at ATH (LGAV) * SX-TIB - Withdrawn from services 2012 reportedly stored at Karachi * SX-TIC - Withdrawn from service 2012 & stored at Athens, sold to Iran Air 2015 and ferried to THR * D-ABZD - Never entered services with Hellenic Imperial & stored without titles or engines at Marana field, USA in partial livery Airbus A340-300 * SX-TIF - Former Gulf Air A9C-LG, noted 2012 at Chateauroux, France in full livery. Aircraft Not taken up (financial issues) * SX-TIG - Former Gulf Air A9C-LH, noted at 2012 Chateauroux, France in full livery. Aircraft Not taken up (financial issues) Airbus A321-200 * F-WTAV - Former Gulf Air A9C-ET, noted at 2012 Montpellier, France Aircraft Not taken up (financial issues) * F-WTAX - Former Gulf Air A9C-ES, noted at 2012 Montpellier, France. Aircraft Not taken up (financial issues) The airline's failure to secure leases on the Airbus A340-300 aircraft saw the Boeing 747-200B operate services to New York JFK and a subsequent loss in operating revenues and eventual closure of the company. The Airbus A321 aircraft were to operate services to London, Kuwait, Dubai, Damascus, etc. The entire Boeing 747-200B fleet and all the airlines assets include offices in Athens were abandoned by 2012.

References

External links

* {{Airlines of Greece Defunct airlines of Greece Airlines established in 2006 Airlines disestablished in 2012 Elliniko-Argyroupoli Greek companies established in 2006