Flights across Europe were heavily disrupted over the weekend after Greece was forced to shut its airspace due to a communications failure.
The disruption reportedly began at 8.59am local time on Sunday when aviation frequencies were hit by significant interference. Dozens of flights were delayed during one of the busiest travel weekends of the year.
Greece’s civil aviation authority said an indeterminate “noise” was affecting radio channels, though the cause remained unclear.
“The ‘noise’ observed in the frequencies was in the form of continuous, involuntary emission,” the authority said in a statement.
“For some reason all frequencies were suddenly lost .. We could not communicate with aircraft in the sky,” Panagiotis Psarros, chair of the Association of Greek Air Traffic Controllers, told state broadcaster ERT.
He later told Reuters that the ageing flight system should have been replaced some time ago.
“We work with the most antiquated systems…in Europe,” he said.
Some flights have since resumed. By Sunday afternoon limited services were back up after pilots switched to backup frequencies.
Greece’s infrastructure and transport minister, Christos Dimas, said safety was not compromised.
