National Communication Failure Halts Air Services in Greece

Athens, Jan 5 – All arriving and departing flights across the country were temporarily suspended this morning following a nationwide communication system failure in Greece. The state broadcaster ERT provided this information.

The airport operator stated that flight services have cautiously resumed from Athens International Airport since this afternoon. According to local time, the communication failure occurred around 9:35 a.m., affecting Greek airspace and halting arrivals and departures at Athens and other regional airports. This left thousands of passengers stranded at airports across the country for hours, while some incoming flights were diverted to other locations.

Preliminary information suggests that this failure was caused by a circuit malfunction in the central radio frequency system of the air traffic control centers operated by Greece’s Civil Aviation Authority. As a precaution for flight safety, the Greek Ministry of Transport initially allowed only “overflights” (aircraft transiting Greek airspace without landing) to continue.

A total of 90 flights at Athens International Airport, around 75 flights at Thessaloniki Airport in northern Greece, and dozens of flights at other airports across the country were affected.

According to local media, Greek authorities have launched an investigation into the incident, and efforts to fully restore normal air traffic operations are ongoing.