She is 55 years old and has a big name. After more than 20 years at Elenikon Airport in Athens, the Boeing 727 is getting a new home.
Mount Olympus is the English name for Mount Olympus, the highest mountain range in Greece. In Greek mythology, a place called Olympus was the home of the gods. So the SX-CPA registered Boeing 727 was once a big name. In 1968, he was handed over to Greek Olympic Airways.
The plane flew until 1993 and was based at Elenikon Airport in Athens – even when it was closed in 2001. Ex-Olympic employees of the Bolkiova Association took care of the Boeing 727 and other aircraft parked there. But in early 2023 it was decided to convert the former airport into a new district.
Football is played next to a Boeing 727
In autumn 2023, Cypriot wet lease and charter airline and aircraft dealer Zela Aviation purchased a Boeing 727 and BAC 1-11, also based at Ellinikon. When BAC 1-11's planned transport to Cyprus proved too complicated, it was taken to the coastal town of Lavrio, 40 kilometers southeast of Athens, restored and put on public display.
Now the Boeing 727 has found a new home. However, the Zela Aviation plane was transported a kilometer away to Voliagmenis Avenue, which is the access to the former airport from the main street and bends the future new district. The 55-year-old plane is now parked near a small football field.
The restoration continues
The transit took place in March. “From April 2024, maintenance work on the Boeing 727 will continue and will be fully completed in the coming months,” Zela Aviation said. There will be an official event with government representatives in May.
Zela Aviation owner Andreas Christodoulides is a former Olympic Airways owner and admirer of famous shipowner Aristotle Onassis. Christodoulits says he wants to make sure with the project that “the world remembers Athens, the Olympics and Elenikon, the former main airport of Onassis.”
You can see photos of the Boeing 727 in the image gallery above – click on the image to open the gallery in larger format. The video below shows the BAC 1-11 on the Lavrio:
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