Aegean Wins EU Approval to Take Over Failing Olympic Air

Aegean Airlines SA won European Union approval to buy “failing” Olympic Air and form Greece’s biggest carrier as the likely collapse of Olympic trumped regulators’ antitrust concerns.

Aegean’s bid for its nearest rival was cleared by EU merger-review authorities today, two years after the Brussels-based watchdog blocked a previous attempt because it would create a Greek air monopoly. Aegean would emerge as the sole Greek domestic carrier anyway because Olympic was likely to close in the near future, the EU said in an e-mailed statement.