The collection of the “Museum of the Matchbox” (https://matchesmuseum.com/) has all the matches that were released by the Olympic Airlines.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the matches released by our former national airlines reflect part of its long history and certainly of the beautiful memories from the Olympic Air.
The maiden voyage of the Olympic Airlines took place on April 7, 1957.
The previous year, in July 1956, the TAE-National Airlines had been acquired by the Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis. The initials TAE meant: Technical Aviation Operations. Onassis gave the new name “Olympic Airlines “.
The company grew at a very fast pace. Its fleet has grown, as has its network of foreign destinations. On March 3, 1972, Greece acquired, for the first time, a connection with Australia, with Olympiaki becoming the company of the five continents.
Since the mid-1960s, famous Greek and foreign fashion designers such as Coco Chanel, Pierre Cardin, Giannis Tseklenis, and others, have undertaken to design flight attendants’ uniforms.
Many famous foreigners and Greeks choose Olympiaki for their travels to and from Greece. It was the time when in the first place the company offered gardenias to the ladies and the passengers ate with gold and silver cutlery.
Aliki Vougiouklaki in the role of the air hostess and Costas Chatzichristos in the role of the Arab
Zoe Laskari and Giannis Dalianidis in front of the circles of the Olympic Air Force
On August 2, 1971, Olympic Aviation SA is founded by the son of Aristotle Onassis, Alexander, to serve the small islands of Greece.
Two years after the first flight, the Olympic team, on the orders of Onassis, proceeded to design a new logo.
The first logo of the company was a white eagle that looked like a propeller, along with five rings and the name Olympic. The Greek tycoon wanted to copy the five colored rings of the Olympic emblem, but the International Olympic Committee claimed that they had rights to the emblem.
Thus was created the new logo with the six rings. The first five rings represent the five continents, while the sixth represents Greece. According to others, the sixth round symbolizes the Olympic Airlines 
that unites the 5 continents. The colors used were yellow, red, blue and white.
On January 22, 1973 something happened that changed the whole course of OA. The death of Aristotle Onassis’ son, Alexandros, in a plane crash shocks Greece, and it is the beginning of the end for the company. In the fall of 1974, Onassis, losing all interest in the company and beyond, announces that he wants to retire from any business. In January 1975 he transferred it to the Greek State and on March 15 of the same year he died in Paris.
In the first years of the operation of the company in the hands of the state, years during which large and victorious strikes for the employees took place, there will be an improvement of the economic indicators, but also of the flight work of Olympiaki. Indicative of the growth of the airline was the doubling of its employees in the five years from ’80 to ’85, but also the fact that in 1991 Olympic Airlines emerged as the safest airline in the world!
On March 28, 2001, the last flight of OA to Thessaloniki will depart from Elliniko Airport.
In March 2009, the life cycle of the Olympic Airlines will be permanently closed, both due to the directions and requirements of the European Union, as well as a disastrous policy of the governments towards this public enterprise.
Many Greeks at the time felt relieved that the national carrier was closing down permanently. They would probably have believed the then Minister of Development -but also the current Minister of Labor- who said that with the money that the public would save from the closure of the Olympic, he would build a hospital every month and I do not remember how many schools!