Paul Ioannidis

Paul J. Ioannidis (22 February 1924 – 1 May 2021) was a German-born Greek pilot, resistance fighter, and later shipping industry executive. In his later life, he was a long-term employee of various organisations associated with Aristotle Onassis and his family.

Ioannidis was born in Berlin and raised in Athens.

In early 1943, aged 18, he joined the Greek resistance against the Axis occupation. Initially, 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 part of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE).

In June 1944, following orders from the Allied Force Headquarters, he escaped from Greece with two British officers (McIntyre and 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 Harold Alexander. He later returned these distinctions to Charles Peake, British Ambassador in Athens, on 10 May 1956, in protest at the execution of two Cypriot EOKA militants in Nicosia.

Ioannidis was trained as a fighter pilot by the Royal Air Force. He subsequently joined the Royal Hellenic Air Force and served until 1947.

He was employed by the Greek air carrier TAE, which became Olympic Airways (OA) upon acquisition by Aristotle Onassis in 1957. At OA he served, successively, as Chief Instructor, Chief Pilot, Flight Operations Director and finally as Director General until December 1974. He continued to fly with OA until his retirement in February 1984, having logged over 22,500 hours as Captain and Instructor. He also flew the Royal Family for 12 years, as Captain on OA and the VIP aircraft of the Greek Air Force.

From the start of his career, Ioannidis was concerned with aviation safety, particularly with reducing the risk of human error, the main cause of all accidents in the field of transportation. In 1982, he was responsible for the implementation of aviation safety procedures in the Onassis fleet, including rigorous recurrent training, use of simulators and checklists, standardised procedures and regulations, the so-called "Airline Concept".

In his will, Onassis appointed Ioannidis a lifetime member of the board of directors of the Onassis Foundation, established in December 1975. He served as Vice President of both the commercial and public benefit foundations until 2005. He also served as Chairman of the Board of all companies owned by Christina Onassis and was one of the executors of her will.