Athens - The European Commission Tuesday approved the sale of Greece's national carrier Olympic Airlines to the Marfin Investment Group after years of failed privatisation attempts.

The deal involving Marfin, a Greek-based investment holdings company, comes a month after the conservative government made a last- minute appeal for investors to rescue Olympic, after an international tender failed to produce satisfactory offers.

Bids by two other companies for the ailing airline, Aegean Airlines and US-based Chrysler Aviation, were rejected.

Athens  - After years of failed privatization attempts, the Greek government sealed a deal Friday with the country's largest buyout firm, Marfin Investment Group, for the sale of debt-ridden carrier Olympic Airlines, said Development Minister Kostis Hatzidakis.

The deal involving Marfin (MIG) comes a month after the conservative government made a last-minute appeal for investors to rescue Olympic, after an international tender failed to produce satisfactory offers.

Athens  - After years of failed privatization attempts, the Greek government sealed a deal Friday with the country's largest buyout firm, Marfin Investment Group, for the sale of debt-ridden carrier Olympic Airlines, media reports said.

The deal involving Marfin and Swissport, a subsidiary of Spain's Ferrovial, comes a month after the conservative government made a last-minute appeal for investors to rescue Olympic, after an international tender failed to produce satisfactory offers.

Seoul  - North Korea on T

Ankara - Turkish Airlines Tuesday announced that it was prepared to immediately pay compensation to the families of those killed and all surviving passengers on board flight TK 1951 which crashed while approaching Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport last week.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI), for first time, has decided to levy the development fees from passengers at authority operated airports at Kolkata, Chennai, Goa, Ahmedabad and Thiruvananthapuram. It should be recalled that privately operated airports at Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore are already charging such fees from passengers.