The Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport has been in immediate cooperation with all relevant stakeholders from the first moment to fully clarify the causes of the technical problem that occurred yesterday in the Athens FIR, emphasized Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Christos Dimas in a statement.
Full statement by Dimas late yesterday evening:
The technical issue that occurred yesterday morning on some of the frequencies serving the needs of the Athens FIR did not affect flight safety in any way and has now been resolved, according to the information provided by the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (HCAA).
As soon as the problem was detected, the prescribed procedures were activated both for the safe conduct of flights, in cooperation with EUROCONTROL, and for addressing the issue at a technical level.
Among other measures, the HCAA electronics team conducted inspections of all regional transmission and reception system units, and an HCAA-equipped aircraft was urgently deployed, with HCAA electronics personnel and a technical expert from the Hellenic Telecommunications and Post Commission (EETT), to check the frequency spectrum.
The Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport has been in immediate collaboration with all responsible and involved bodies from the first moment to fully clarify the causes of this issue, which did not affect the Hellenic Air Force systems.
It is reminded that the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport is implementing an Action Plan to upgrade and modernize air navigation systems, in coordination with European stakeholders (DG MOVE, EASA, and EUROCONTROL).
The Plan, with a completion horizon of 2028, includes 364 actions organized into seven main pillars, which among others cover:
Development of Data Link services.
Upgrade of the air traffic control system (TopSky ATC One).
Implementation of Performance-Based Navigation (PBN).
Development of Mode S radar.
Implementation of CP1 regulation and improvements in Air Traffic Management.
This effort is in full progress.
Urgent preliminary investigation into airport blackout
An urgent preliminary investigation has been ordered by the head of the Athens Public Prosecutors Office, Aristeidis Koreas, following yesterdays airport blackout, according to ertnews.gr.
During the investigation by the cybercrime department, it will be examined whether the offense of dangerous interference with aircraft operations has occurred and the source of the disruptions across nearly all frequencies of the Athens FIR.
The technical problem with the radio frequencies of Greek air traffic services, which caused yesterdays flight suspensions, has been resolved. Flights are operating normally today; however, in some cases delays continue due to the large accumulation of flights that were not carried out yesterday.
