Private company

Sky Express

Logo: SKY express SA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons3

Airline of Greece

SKY Express (legally Cretan Aviation Operations Aviation and Commercial Societe Anonyme; Greek: Κρητικές Αεροπορικές Εκμεταλλεύσεις Αεροπορική και Εμπορική Ανώνυμη Εταιρεία) is a Greek airline headquartered in Heraklion International Airport. It was established in 2005 and operates a number of flights, serving 35 domestic and eighteen international destinations year round. It is owned by Aviareps Hellas.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

2005Founded1
Hannover Airport SKY express Airbus A320-251N SX-TEC (DSC00198)
Photo: MarcelX42, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons5

SKY Express (legally Cretan Aviation Operations Aviation and Commercial Societe Anonyme; Greek: Κρητικές Αεροπορικές Εκμεταλλεύσεις Αεροπορική και Εμπορική Ανώνυμη Εταιρεία) is a Greek airline headquartered in Heraklion International Airport. It was established in 2005 and operates a number of flights, serving 35 domestic and eighteen international destinations year round.2

The story

The airline was established in early 2005 by Miltiadis Tsagkarakis, former Olympic Airlines director general and pilot, and George Mavrantonakis, former Olympic Airlines chief operating officer and accountable manager as well as advisor to the company president. Operations commenced in July 2005, including scheduled, charter, cargo, air taxi, emergency medical services, excursion and sightseeing flights. Sky Express Aircargo was later established as a joint venture with the Finaval Group and dedicated to cargo transport between Europe and the Far East.

In October 2020, the airline placed a firm order for four Airbus A320neo aircraft (the fleet now includes six of them). In addition, the company introduced a new livery for their new Airbus aircraft.

Logo controversy

The airline's initial logo was inspired by the flag of the Cretan State, a semi-independent state under the Ottoman Empire. The flag of the Cretan State was composed of a white cross extending to the edges of the flag, with the upper-hoist canton in red, featuring a white star symbolizing Ottoman sovereignty on the island, and the other squares in blue, symbolizing the Greeks of Crete. The flag has also been adopted as a symbol of the Cretan independence pseudo-movement. The logo was not well-received, and following complaints by the public in Greece, especially Cretans, the logo was changed. The company said it did not consider the flag offensive, since it represented a milestone in the unification of Crete with the Kingdom of Greece, but changed the logo nonetheless to avoid any further confusion.

From Wikipedia’s article on Sky Express (Greece), shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Products and brands

Destinations

As of June 2025, Greek carrier Sky Express flies (or has flown) to the following destinations:

Codeshare agreements

Sky Express codeshares with the following airlines:

Interline agreements

Sky Express interlines with the following airlines:

Fleet

Current fleet

As of July 2026, Sky Express operates the following aircraft:

From Wikipedia’s article on Sky Express (Greece), shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Timeline

  1. 2005Founded Founded in Athens1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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