Athens (AFP) – A deeply embarrassing systems failure forced Greece to close its airspace for several hours, leaving pilots unable to communicate with air traffic control. This incident exposed badly outdated communication systems at Athens International Airport, which is known as one of the world’s top travel destinations. Flights had to be diverted to neighboring countries, impacting thousands of travelers following the “unprecedented” technical malfunction on January 4, which baffled experts. More than a week after the chaos, questions remain about what sparked the glitch and how the system returned online, with a report expected this week.
According to the Greek civil aviation authority, the YPA, the malfunction began at 8:59 am (0659 GMT) when multiple radio frequencies serving Athens airspace were hit by continuous “noise” interference. The agency’s transmitters began sending out “involuntary signal emissions,” YPA said. As technicians raced to radio relay stations on the mountains near Athens and further afield to locate the problem, planes were essentially flying blind, experts stated—unable to communicate with air traffic controllers—until the incident gradually abated four hours later. “Hundreds of flights were directly affected—those in contact with air traffic control or already in the air that changed their route,” Foivos Kaperonis, a board member of the Greek air traffic controllers association (EEEK), told AFP.
Athens International Airport handled over 280,000 flights last year, averaging over 760 a day. Officials have insisted that Athens airspace was quickly cleared of traffic, and that flight safety was not compromised. The system returned to full operation at 5 pm (1500 GMT), with flights restored 45 minutes later, as reported by the YPA. No signs of a cyberattack or intentional sabotage were detected, and nothing suspicious was found at the relay stations. Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis later confirmed there was “no sign” of a cyberattack.
“We have an exact picture of what happened. What we don’t yet know is how it happened,” said Michael Bletsas, one of Greece’s top computer engineers and head of the Greek cybersecurity authority, during an interview with state TV ERT. He noted that planes “may have flown ‘deaf’ for a short while,” but emphasized that under no circumstances was there a flight safety issue, as pilots still had access to their radar systems. “Every system fails at some point,” Bletsas remarked, adding that he is part of the committee investigating the incident. However, Kaperonis is much less optimistic, stating, “Air traffic controllers could see the aircraft on the radar display, but they could neither hear the pilots nor speak to them.” He warned that if two aircraft had been on a collision course, controllers would not have been able to give them instructions.
George Saounatsos, the head of the YPA, indicated that a report on the incident by an investigative committee would likely be delivered this week. “It was a rare event—it’s hard for this to happen again, even statistically,” he explained to Open TV. Currently, a major infrastructure overhaul costing 300 million euros ($350 million) is underway, which includes the implementation of digital transmitters expected to be delivered this year, according to Saounatsos.
Greece’s junior transport minister has admitted that the airport’s communication systems should have been upgraded “decades” earlier. “These are systems we know are outdated,” Konstantinos Kyranakis remarked on Action24 TV. He noted that the Athens airport tower radar dates back to 1999. “Clearly, systems that should have been replaced decades ago cannot be replaced in nine months,” Kyranakis said, mentioning that he was appointed in March while noting the turnover among transport ministers since conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis came to power in 2019.
Bertrand Vilmer, an aeronautics expert and consultant at Paris-based Icare Aeronautique, stated that Athens’ largely analog-based systems “are robust, but ones for which there’s no longer really any possible maintenance because they’re old.” Last month, the European Commission referred Greece to the EU Court of Justice for failing to implement measures to design and publish performance-based navigation (PBN) procedures at Greek airports, procedures that should have been established five years ago. Air traffic controllers, who have had ongoing conflicts with YPA over staff and infrastructure shortages, assert that the January 4 incident was a disaster waiting to happen. This situation is particularly concerning in a country heavily reliant on tourism, which has seen record visitor numbers in recent years.
“The air traffic control unit where the problem appeared handles up to nearly 5,000 flights per day during the summer season,” Kaperonis noted. Air traffic controllers require “long rest periods” due to the challenges posed by their job, according to Vilmer. YPA and the transport minister’s office did not respond to requests for questions regarding the incident. Athens International Airport handled nearly 34 million passengers last year, an increase of 6.7 percent over the prior year. Critics have also highlighted that Greece’s worst rail disaster, when two trains collided in 2023, resulting in 57 fatalities, was also partly attributed to chronic infrastructure and staffing failures.
© 2024 AFP
