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On Sunday, 4th January, travellers at airports throughout Greece found themselves stranded by what has eventually been determined as a glitch affecting the country’s outdated aviation communication systems.
Per a report published by Reuters on Monday, 5th January, air traffic controllers at Athens International Airport Eleftherios Venizelosere (AIA) were guiding planes toward the runway when radio communications failed, bewilderingly replaced by a high-pitched whistling noise.
Two controllers and a member of airport management at AIA who were on duty during the occurrence said that controllers almost immediately lost contact with the bulk of aircraft within the country’s airspace at the time, including several dozen aircraft on the verge of landing.
While the issue continues to be under investigation as of press time, the Greek Civil Aviation Authority is seriously looking at the outdated equipment still in use in airports throughout the country.
Unprecedented, but…
As experts interviewed by In-Cyprus pointed out, the strange whistling noise heard when communications went dead normally affect just one transmission centre at a time.
Otherwise, these occur as isolated incidents that have been successfully addressed in the past.
While Greek authorities say that this current situation is unprecedented, it may be recalled that a similar incident affected airport operations on a global scale back in July 2024.
In that case, however, it was determined that the breakdown was caused by a bug in the most recent update for cybersecurity solution CrowdStrike, a system used by practically every airport in the world.
For the Greek situation, however, it is becoming clearer that this may not necessarily be a software issue and investigators have serious doubts that the country’s airports were hit by an online attack.
Indeed, the issue may have been due to something that has needed to be addressed for a while now: communications systems at these airports have long needed upgrades if not outright replacement.
At present, Greek airports use circuits from national telecommunications provider OTE, which has assured the public as of 5th January that the said circuits are fully operational.
Despite this, some experts have pointed out that much of Greece’s airport communications infrastructure needs serious refurbishment or complete replacement with modern, more reliable equipment.
It should be noted that the Greek Air Traffic Controllers Union released a statement declaring: “Today’s situation did not arise suddenly; it was pre-announced.”
The union has likewise demanded that airport officials conduct an immediate overhaul of facility systems throughout the country.
So, what happens now?
As of Monday, the Greek government has emphatically declared airport modernisation is currently ongoing and that the installation of new communications equipment nationwide will be done some time in 2028.
Officials also claimed that these new systems will be compliant with the relevant standards set by the European Union for airport communications.
Ironically, as of December 2025, the European Commission actually called out the Greek government for failing to implement certain navigation procedures designed to boost safety in low-visibility conditions.
For many airport workers throughout Greece, however, any sort of upgrades will come too little, too late.
As Association of Greek Air Traffic Controllers Pangiotis Psarros put it: “This incident once again exposes the critical weaknesses of outdated and underfunded air traffic management infrastructure. Safety was maintained thanks to human expertise, but this cannot continue to compensate for systemic deficiencies.”
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Source: traveldailymedia