When Despina Flouras Anastasopoulos arrived at Athens airport to board her SkyGreece flight for JFK in New York City early on Tuesday morning, the word “cancelled” on the monitor should have been a warning that there would be problems. She was there— pregnant, with her husband and three sons, ready to fly home after their vacation in Greece.
Photo by Despina Flouras-Anastasopoulos. Her three boys waiting at Athens airport for a SkyGreece representative to inform them of flight updates after Tuesday’s cancellation.
After an hours-long wait for someone from the Canadian-based startup airline to arrive, representatives from Goldair Handling, the airline servicing agency at Athens Airport showed up and assisted the passengers with hotel accommodations across the street at the Sofitel Athens Airport.
Employees from SkyGreece were nowhere to be found. And countless attempts to phone the company’s Athens office went unanswered.
More than a day later, dozens of stranded passengers turned to social media to vent their frustration and Despina reached out to one of the founders, Fr. Nicholas Alexandris, via Facebook messenger. The priest respond, telling Despina that he resigned from the board two weeks ago and offered the phone number of the “main shareholder” and “president” Mr. Ken Stathakis.
*We covered the number but according to Despina, who called to check in with Mr. Stathakis, an employee of the Octagon Restaurant answered and said that the owner, Mr. Stathakis, was not in.
And despite claiming to have resigned from the board, Fr. Alexandris’ Facebook status was updated yesterday with an announcement in Greece about the flight– announcing to his followers updated flight schedules and flight arrival and departure times.
15 comments
I hope and pray that SkyGreece can pull it together and keep their airplane flying. Maybe the time has come to lease another 767, or perform a subservice with a reliable operator, such as Atlas Air. They have a good idea: provide low-cost travel to Greece from Greek community, but they flail in the execution. They had top-notch consulting from the start, but have fallen into the “culture’ of favoritism and cronyism that plagues many companies.
Dude, youre being far too nice and easy on these clowns. You have 3 owners, one of whom is a restaurant owner, the other is a Priest ( father Nicholas). What the hell do these guys know about running an airline??? Why is a Priest ( Father Nicholas) an owner or board member of an airline and how does a priest who makes most of his money from weddings, baptisms and funerals, get the kind of money to be a part of an airline? Hmmm, interesting isnt it? How dubious that a priest is an owner of an airline in the first place. Its bad enough that they cant run their business, what is worse is how they have left their customers hanging. These poor passengers from around the world are stranded, sleeping in airports with no money and with nowhere to go and with NO HELP FROM THESE BASTARDS who run the airline. No customer service, nothing. Good job Father Nicholas. When your “flock” and your customers need you most, you are nowhere to be found. You 3 are a bunch of crooks, doing what crooks do best, which is to take the money and run. Father Nicholas should be ashamed. But he’ll be ok, he’ll confess his sins and be forgiven, I heard he has “connections”. Too bad for those passengers though.
hey smart ass smart people never fly with α 2 aircraft new airways co,as a parent I never allow my children to do so,those passengers took a great risk trying to save money (από Τσιγκουνιά) remember the last 20 years all those monkey companies went down the drain-they knew exactly the risk but they purchased tickets anyway–
DIMITRI, come on. Im sure you have tried to save money with something at some point in your life, right? Just because something is “cheaper”, doesnt mean it should end up being a scam. Many companies, many GOOD companies offer cheaper, discounted rates and prices and many of these companies dont want to screw over their customers. If your favourite restaurant has a “special” on its food, or if GM is having a sale on its cars and offering huge discounts, you shouldnt assume that those “sales’ or “discounts” are in place, to simply screw you. Are you telling me that everyone who uses Expedia and other discount websites, should expect to get screwed over, simply because they got a discount? Most importantly, many of these poor people who booked with Sky Greece, cant read English or Greek, etc., and may not have known of any potential risks, as most people dont either. Furthermore , when you have a well known priest ( Father Nicholas) attached with this business, you kind of think or thought that with a priest at the helm, that there wouldnt be any worry about being cheated. But then again, with a priest like Father Nicholas attached to this or any business, what did those poor people expect, than to b cheated in the end.
Right on dude! These guys are clowns. Especially this so called devil priest. He is going to hell for this and many other sins he’s committed. Do some research on this clown. They call him “Father Hollywood”! He cares more about fame, recognition and media glory than serving his flock. Pathetic inhumane selfish clown. I listened to him and the short fat bald guy who’s another owner, Bill Alefantis, speak at a conference on YouTube, and you could see the inexperience and nervousness. He was trembling. I have to say, it takes balls to do what they did to come into the main stream media and try and BS people. Let’s see how ballsy they are when they get locked up and go to prison and father Nick and Bill are cell mates with Tyrone and his pet Python.
John you’re 100% right. The fact is that nobody is aware about is that Nick Alexandris is the legal individual responsible for what is occurring. He is under European Aviation rules what is known as the “Accountable Manager”. He did not submit any resignation that is registered publicly and the fact is that in the Φ. Ε. Κ. and with the Greek Civil Aviation Authorities, and also under the letter of the law, he and the management team are the legal and liable individuals for what has happened.
What I find very curious in researching these people is that Ken Stathakis is not listed anywhere in the historical public documents as a member of the board past or present and is not in fact officially listed as the president. Nicholas Alexandris and Vasileios Alefantis are the primary responsible parties as per what’s published. In reading all the news feeds it seems in my humble opinion that Nicholas Alexandris the former priest, has basically appeared to have turned on his partners and has successfully shifted the blame to them. If this is the case it is indeed a terrible thing to see anyone do much the less a former clergyman.
Hi James. This whole thing is shameful. The whole thing. The complete lack of any customer service, the complete and utter silence from all involved with Sky Greece is horrible. I can only imagine being a stranded passenger, just trying to get home. I really hope that people dont give Father Nicholas a free pass this time. I think its about time that people discovered what kind of person father Nicholas truly is. In fact, if people actually investigated his past dealings and his ‘close’ relationship with the Bishop, Im sure people would be shocked. What a crook. No public statements, no show of remorse. Just terrible.
You get what you pay for! This is proven time & time again. Hope these passengers had insurance. If not, I feel no sympathy for the passengers. It’s (insurance) a small price to pay for security even with the best airlines, but moreso one that just started! I’m not an insurance agent but a Travel Agent.
Denise, youre a xxxxxxxxxxxxx. How can you say that you feel “no sympathy” for these people, simply because they didnt purchase insurance? Many of these poor people dont know about insurance, they dont speak english or Greek and may not have been aware of the ‘fine print’ about optional insurance. Also, many of these people may not have felt the need to buy additional insurance simply because they TRUSTED this company and the crooks behind the company, like Father Nicholas, who himself, has shown his true colours. So as a travel agent, you of all people should sympathize with these poor people who got duped and who are now stranded and stuck only to be further insulted by xxxxxxxxxxxx like you. xxxx you.
Wake up sheep and smell the wolf been around for about 20 years collecting greek festival proceeds and now runs a banquet hall and church called st nicks in north scarborough. See his holiness there on sunday
You idiots obviously missed his last bankruptcy collecting money from hellenic airlines.
oh just visit his shop on danforth across from alexander square he also runs the frozen yogurt parlour and owns the building
business stealing from the church and banquet is good
This psefto priest has a daughter who sings in the bouzoukia and runs St Nicks along with his koumparo the holy saint sotirios who runs a greek educational day care centre as well as collect rent from hundreds of Greek churches.
last time I paid 10 bucks to get in club st nicks to see otto rehagle of all people and get an autograph
The facts are that these individuals started another company a few years ago called Hellenic Imperial. That company did the exact same thing to its customers stranding them in Athens and NYC. I am not sure how a public servant with a Greek salary every month can afford to be a co-owner of an airline. I am not sure how a restaurant owner can be a co-owner of an airline either. The money comes from elsewhere because whether or not the plane is 24 years old or brand new, there are hundreds of millions of dollars involved. The Greek government and its capital controls have nothing to do with this as this is a CANADIAN company. Do any of you know what happened to the two Hellenic Imperial airline 747 jets parked in Athens international airport? Back in March, a court ruling in Greece released the planes to be auctioned/sold to someone in Pakistan. On their way to Pakistan they were diverted to Iran. There have been many rumors going around about their fund sources. Various international agencies need to conduct an investigation into these individuals and the source(s) of funds. Someone from this company needs to let Canadians know that this is a Canadian company in order to stop the bashing of Greece on this matter.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl_If_IzXRM
heres ol saint nick with his last bankrupt airline ahellenic Imperial Airlines. Hey the last days would make priests like wolves amognst the sheep. Prophecy fulfilled…
he also runs Vim foundation Montreal, a non profit collecting donations for wwi veterans who need your help
donate and please buy his airline seats they come with a money dish passing every hour to collect for wwi vets and the homeless