The history of the Olympic Airways sale started when the European Commission investigated airline complaints regarding State aid that was granted illegally to OA during the period 1994-2004. The sentence was condemnatory and the Greek State demanded 111 million Euros from the Olympic Airways.

To achieve that goal OA had to declare bankruptcy and sell all its assets, a situation that affected greatly its passengers, who often had to deal with strikes, delays and flight cancellations. The issue was addressed publicly and an international tender concerning the sale of the three companies of the Olympic Airlines Group was proposed. But as the offers presented by the candidates were deemed not satisfactory by the government, the attempt collapsed. The government extended an invitation to financial groups to proceed to direct negotiations for the sale of the Group and the first to respond was the Marfin Investment Group (MIG) owned by Andreas Vgenopoulos.

When the company finally came under the control of MIG, after 35 years of state control and 10 years of failed sale attempts, Olympic once again became a private corporation. The new owners planned to secure approximately 4,000 of the 8,500 jobs of the Group. The new airline was officially renamed Olympic Air and the final deal for the acquisition was signed on March 23, 2009. Olympic Air ordered eight new next-generation Bombardier Q400 during the 2009 Paris Air Show, four of which were the Q400 NextGen and placed options on a further eight of the type. Olympic leased a total of 14 A320 series aircraft for its entry into service in September 2009, and planed to order its own aircraft from either from Airbus or Boeing.

The signature ceremony in Zappeion

The inaugural flight was on 1 October 2009 at 06:20 leaving the Athens International Airport and heading to Thessaloniki Makedonia Airport

Olympic Air modernized and redesigned the logo of the new airline and  called for fashion designers to submit their designs for the new uniforms. Celia Critharioti won the contest.

The new beginning was celebrated with an official opening event presented by Marios Fragkoulis, which included performances by Elena Paparizou, Cirque du Soleil and the “Mikis Theodorakis” Orchestra.

The continuously deteriorating domestic economic environment through a prolonged recession and the inevitable decline in passenger volumes led Olympic Air to discussions with main competitor Aegean Airlines. On 22 February 2010, Olympic Air and Aegean Airlines announced they had reached an agreement to merge their operations,