A broad meeting is taking place today involving the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority, the Civil Aviation Authority, air traffic controllers, Athens International Airport (“Eleftherios Venizelos”), and Greece’s two major carriers, AEGEAN and SKY express over flight issues in Greece.
The discussions focus on rising flight delays and ways to strengthen airspace capacity and improve air traffic management, drawing on Eurocontrol data.
The gathering comes as Greece once again faces a difficult summer in aviation, with passengers experiencing widespread delays.
The country has now moved into the top three in Europe for flight disruption, with performance notably worsening compared with last year.
Eurocontrol data show that during the final week of June, Greece accounted for 13% of all flight delays across Europe. Of this total, 9% were linked to the Athens Area Control Centre, while 4% were attributed to the Macedonia Area Control Centre. Officials point to limited capacity and staffing shortages as the primary causes, alongside a smaller but growing impact from increased overflights due to tensions in the Middle East. Overall, en-route delays in Greece have surged by 63% compared with the same period in 2025.
Across Europe, Greece now sits alongside France and Spain as one of the three main contributors to air traffic delays, though it records the sharpest deterioration year-on-year. France remains the largest contributor at 29% of European delays, mainly due to capacity constraints, staffing gaps, and system transitions, even though its delays are 38% lower than last year. Spain follows with 21%, driven by high traffic volumes and similar operational pressures, despite a 26% annual increase in delays.
European-wide performance also shows slight deterioration in punctuality. On average, 71% of flights arrived on time, a decline of 0.5 percentage points compared with last year, while 64% of departures were punctual, marking a marginal improvement of 0.2 percentage points over 2025.
At Athens International Airport, summer operations are particularly intense, with around 900 commercial flights handled daily, plus an additional 100 movements including private, cargo, and other flights. Authorities estimate that roughly 80% of delays during peak periods stem from air traffic restrictions. These disruptions ripple through both domestic and international networks and further compound scheduling issues due to mandatory crew rest requirements.
To address capacity pressures, Athens Airport has been designated this year as a Schedule Facilitated Airport (IATA Level 2). Under this framework, the national slot coordinator works closely with airlines to align schedules with available hourly capacity. Officials say that this process has ensured that 98% of flights planned for summer 2026 fall within agreed limits, reducing potential scheduling conflicts.
A Joint Ministerial Decision issued on 10 June defines the airport’s minimum operational capacity for the summer period as 35 departures and 31 arrivals per hour during peak times, 35 departures and 28 arrivals during off-peak hours, and 22 departures and 22 arrivals overnight. Despite these thresholds, today’s meeting is examining why delays remain severe.
Current assessments suggest that these minimum service levels are achieved less than half of the time. Authorities cite multiple contributing factors, though operational planning and air traffic management remain central concerns. Eurocontrol also ranks Greece third-worst in Europe in terms of capacity and staffing performance among air navigation service providers for the last week of June. While equipment upgrades and recruitment efforts have faced delays, officials maintain that existing systems are still safe and capable of handling current traffic levels.
Air traffic controllers argue that structural overload is a key issue. Olga Toki, Vice President of the Greek Air Traffic Controllers’ Association, told Protothema:
“The problem is that demand at the airport is currently much higher than the agreed capacity limits, including those set out in the ministerial decision, and slot allocations are not being respected.”
She cited Monday, 6 July, as an example of excessive scheduling pressure:
991 flights are scheduled for the day.
During the 7:00–8:00 a.m. peak hour, the agreement allows 35 departures, yet 40 departures are scheduled.
Between 9:00–10:00 a.m., 35 arrivals are planned, exceeding the agreed limit of 31 arrivals.
Between 10:00–11:00 a.m., there are 39 departures.
Between 12:00–1:00 p.m., another 35 arrivals are scheduled.
“These flights will inevitably be delayed, and those delays will cascade throughout the day,” she said. “If the airport starts the morning overloaded, the problem only gets worse.”
Controllers are expected to propose upgrading Athens Airport to IATA Level 3 status, which would enforce stricter slot coordination aligned tightly with capacity limits.
They also highlight increasing pressure from regional air traffic changes linked to the conflict in the Middle East, which has added further strain to Greek airspace. “We’re also seeing increased traffic at the Athens and Macedonia Area Control Centre,” Toki added. “Last year the peak was around 4,500 flights per day. This past weekend it was close to 5,000. New controllers have been hired, but they have not yet completed their training, so we cannot open additional control sectors.”
