Staff at 14 Greek regional airports due to turned over to private companies are balking at helping the new staff.
Greek aviation industry professionals told the newspaper Kathimerini that the stalling could undercut a smooth transition to operate the airports, including those on major tourist islands, as the season sets to get into full swing.
A consortium under the umbrella of Fraport won the bid to run the airports as part of an accelerated privatization drive under the ruling Radical Left SYRIZA-led coalition which vowed to halt the sell-off of state enterprises before bowing to demands from the country’s international creditors.
Airport workers were said to be refusing to familiarize incoming Fraport staff with the infrastructure and the engineering and electronic facilities, increasing the risk that certain problems may arise in areas such as the supply of power and light, in passenger service systems and so on, aviation sources warned.
The newspaper said it had seen an announcement by the main union of Civil Aviation Authority electricians which invited its members to abstain from “supplying any information, demonstrations or even more so training on the electrical networks and appliances of the airports to any private party.”
There have been “instances of tension between unionists and Fraport employees at the airport” in the past few weeks, the sources said.
They add that the secondary union of all CAA employees “has de facto tolerated such kind of behavior” and has even asked airport authorities to “remove the contractor’s instruments and employees from the terminals.”
The airports are expected to be turned over around Easter when a one-time 1.23 billion euro ($1.32 billion) payment is also due but will come as the travel season begins to pick up, making the transition more difficult.
When it happens, the turnover will be overnight, switching from the state to the consortium in terminals at Thessaloniki, Aktio and Kavala on the Greek mainland and 11 island airports – Hania, Corfu, Cephalonia, Cos, Myconos, Rhodes, Samos, Santorini, Skiathos and Zakynthos.
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