Viking Hellas Joint Venture in Iraq

December 24, 2010

Athens, Greece: Viking Hellas Airlines, the Greek independent airline, is pleased to announce a new joint venture in Iraq that provides a strong platform for future growth.

Viking Hellas Airlines is a privately owned airline based in Athens, Greece which has a substantial scheduled service operation between Iraq and Europe. Viking Hellas Airlines has recently joined forces with a consortium of German and Iraqi investors to form a new joint venture in Iraq called Viking Middle East. The new venture will share the risks and the rewards for Viking Hellas’ scheduled services in Iraq and supports recovery from the affiliation with Viking Airlines AB in Sweden, which finished after it ceased operating in October.

Viking Middle East has been established to enhance existing operations in Iraq and to develop new services to meet the increasing demand for flights to Iraq, especially destinations in the Kurdish Regional Government areas.

“Iraq offers great opportunities for Viking Hellas, the leading airline operating between Europe and Iraq, and the new venture provides a great platform for developing our scheduled services” says Roger Gatt, CEO of Viking Hellas Airlines.

“We’ve joined forces with financially strong investors in Germany and Iraq to ensure Viking Hellas remains the leading airline flying between Europe and Iraq. As a consequence we have also terminated a block space agreement with Aer Olympic in Sweden, giving independent agents across Europe better access to Viking Hellas capacity.”

Iraq is one of the fastest developing economies in the world as it emerges from the conflict at the start of this decade and Viking Hellas has established itself as the leading airline flying direct between Iraq and Europe.

“By investing in this new joint venture Viking Hellas has reduced it’s financial exposure, enhanced its commercial position in Iraq, Benelux Germany and Scandinavia and released funds for developing other services, including charter flights and ACMI operations. We are still working on plans for next summer but we have a sound platform that gives us the freedom to capitalize on markets where there is demand and margins are strong.” says Roger.

Source: Viking Hellas Airlines