Paul Ioannidis

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Paul Ioannidis

Paul J. Ioannidis (22 February 1924 – 1 May 2021) was a German-born Greek pilot and Resistance fighter.

Early life[]

Ioannidis was born in Berlin and raised in Athens.

During the first days of 1943, aged 18, he joined the Resistance against the German/Italian occupation. First, he joined the team of Nikiforos in the Greek People’s Liberation Army (ELAS) and subsequently “Force 133”, an allied military unit operating in occupied Greece, which was a party of the British “Special Operation Executive” (SOE).

In June 1944, following orders by the Middle East Allied Command, he escaped from Greece together with two British officers – McIntyre, Bob Morton - and reached Cairo. He was honored for his bravery during the war by King George VI with the “King’s Medal for Courage” (KMC) of the British Empire and with a Certificate of Commendation by the British Field Marshal Lord Alexander. He returned these distinctions, in protest as being devoid of any value, to Charles Peake, British Ambassador in Athens, on May 10, 1956, the same day that the Cypriot, freedom fighters of EOKA Karaolis and Dimitriou were executed in Nicosia.

He was trained as a fighter pilot by the British RAF. Subsequently he joined the Royal Hellenic Air Force and served until 1947. He was employed by the Greek air carrier TAE, which became Olympic Airways (OA), when Aristotle Onassis (ASO) acquired the company in 1957. At OA he served, successively, as Chief Instructor, Chief Pilot, Flight Operations Director and finally as Director General until December 1974.

In his will, ASO appointed him a lifetime member of the Board of Directors (BOD) of the “Onassis Foundation”, established in December 1975. He continued to fly with OA until February 1984 when he retired. He logged more than 22,500 hours as Captain and Instructor. For a period of 12 years, he was also flying the Royal Family as Captain on Olympic and VIP aircraft of the Greek Air Force.

Since the beginning of his career, he dealt with the most crucial part of aviation, “Flight Safety”. It was well known and verified since the mid 50s that “the Weakness of the Human Element” leads to “human error”, which is the main cause of all accidents in the field of transportation (land-sea-air), as well as in all other fields that a human being is involved.^[1]

This weakness was successfully dealt with in the field of air transportation by implementing: rigorous recurrent training, use of simulators and checklists, standard procedures/ regulations, in a spirit of teamwork, coordination, right mentality and self-discipline; the so-called “Airline Concept”.

Having acquired a thorough knowledge of aviation philosophy and extensive experience as a flight instructor, and after a 4-year preparation, he implemented successfully in 1982 the “Airline Concept” to the Onassis fleet.

Thus, the Onassis Group became a world pioneer in its effort to further improve effectively the safety of the: ship, crew, cargo and sea environment.

During the period 1975–1984 he was also involved with the business activities of the Onassis Foundation. He eventually undertook the duties of Chief Executive Officer of Shipping and Commercial Operations (CEO), an office held until 1995. He served also as Vice President of both Foundations – commercial and public benefit – until 2005.

He served as Chairman of the BOD of all companies owned by Christina Onassis and was one of the executors of her will.

He held the following offices and awarded the following distinctions:

• Member of the BOD of the Greek Shipowners’ Union for 26 years (1979–2005), Vice-President for 6 years, President of its Training Committee for 14 years. Named Member Emeritus in 2000.
• Member of the BOD of HELMEPA (Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association), Chairman of its Training Committee for 9 years and Vice-President for 1 year. Awarded the Silver Medal in 2002.
• Member of the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) since 1990, member of ABS Council since 1992, member of its BOD for 10 years and Chairman of ABS’ Greek National Committee for 10 years. Named “Council Emeritus” in 2004^[2][3]
• Member of the “UK P&I Club” for 8 years.
• Honored by the Union of Masters and Mates of the Greek Merchant Marine. Named Member Emeritus in 1995.
• Medal of the City of Athens in 2002 for his social contribution.
• “Saint Mark’s Cross”, presented by his beatitude Theodoros II Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa in 2006.
• Seatrade International “Lifetime Achievement Award”^[4]“in recognition of his exceptional work in introducing aviation style standards to the Onassis fleet in 1982 and also for his support for the Alexander S. Onassis Foundation.” The Ceremony was held at Guildhall, London, in April 2011 and the award was presented by Her Royal Highness Princess Anne.
• “Golden Cross of the Order of Honor” of the Greek Republic for his national and social contribution in 2012.
• Honored by the Air Academy of Greece for his national and social contribution, as well as for his 37 years service as an airline captain in 2013.
• “Lifetime Achievement Award”^[5] by Lloyds List/Propeller Club in November 2017. A citation follows:

He trained a whole generation of pilots and became CEO of the Onassis Foundation shipping business. His main, lasting contribution, to Greek shipping was applying the “Airline Concept” to shipping for the first time, not only for the Olympic fleet but sharing this with the Union of Greek Shipowners and Helmepa.

He continued to serve as a life member of the BOD of both Onassis Foundations, holding also the title of Vice-President Emeritus, in recognition of the services rendered to the Onassis Group and to the Foundations for more than 60 years.

Social activity: Through the projects of “the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation” for more than 40 years.

He wrote his biography in Greek, under the title “Even If You Are Not ….. You Will Become”, published in December 2007 by A. A. Livanis, which was translated into English under the title "Destiny Prevails".^[6]

He spoke English and elementary German.

Married to Sylvia Apostolidou-Ioannidou since 1950.

References[]