Greece Air Traffic Strike Affects European Travellers

Problems for European flights and the Greek economy continued this week with news that Greece Air Traffic Control is to start a 24 hour strike today, Thursday, October 7.

The bad news for travellers was triggered by Greece’s ongoing debt crisis. Civil Servants are striking in protest at spending cuts and the airport staff will be joined across the country by teachers, medical staff and other professionals as the entire state sector shuts down.

Emergency staff have been called in at state-run hospitals to cover for doctors who have walked out protest. There is currently no such cover in place at the airports. 

As well as large queues at the major terminals such as Athens Airport and Thessaloniki airport, universities, tax offices and other institutional buildings will be closed.

Planes will be grounded for at least four hours between 12pm-4pm GMT. Car hire Greece customers are advised to call their airlines to find out about any flight delays.

Greece has had to impose austerity measures after the country nearly defaulted on its loans in May. The European Union was forced to bail out the country to the tune of 110 Billion Euros. Now pensions are being trimmed and salaries cut, to the outrage of locals.

The main civil servant union of Greece, ADEDY, justified their decision to strike by stating: "Every day that goes by, it becomes clear that the government, IMF and EU policy is leading workers and society to an economic dead-end."

Not only is this bad news for Greece which has had to deal with an increasing number of strikes, but all air passengers in Europe have had an uncertain time following similar action across French and Spanish airspace over the last few weeks.