"Madness" Takes Flight Over Greece's Skies

Air traffic controllers at Athens airport sit before screens crowded with small green arrows, each indicating an aircraft, airline, or flight path, amid a summer surge in Greek skies that presents them with a genuine dilemma.

“Look at the sky, it’s madness; there is no room for any more aircraft,” Olga Toki, deputy president of the Hellenic Air Traffic Controllers Association, told AFP.

On July 18, the airport recorded 5,082 flights crossing Greek airspace, setting a record according to the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority, while outside the tourist season, the country’s skies typically see no more than 1,500 aircraft.

Weaknesses in this infrastructure were exposed on January 4 during a major failure in the communication system between air traffic controllers and aircraft.

Controllers could see planes on their screens but were unable to hear pilots or speak with them.

The incident led to the closure of Greek airspace for more than two hours, triggering widespread chaos as a series of flights were canceled or rerouted to neighboring countries.

Following the breakdown, a infrastructure modernization project costing approximately 300 million euros was announced, incorporating new digital communication systems that began deployment in mid-August.