Berliner Tageblatt - Flights grounded in Greece after radio frequency loss

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Flights grounded in Greece after radio frequency loss / Photo: © AFP

Flights grounded in Greece after radio frequency loss

BOULEVARD 04.01.2026

Flights at Greek airports were cancelled or delayed Sunday after a technical problem knocked out airspace radio frequencies, the country's civil aviation authority said, calling the outage "unprecedented".

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At Greece's main airport, Eleftherios Venizelos in Athens, passengers were stuck in long queues as several domestic and international flights were delayed or grounded altogether, an AFP reporter saw.

The radio frequency loss was first reported around 0700 GMT.

"No plane landed or took off for at least two hours," said the press office at Athens airport, where 31.6 million passengers transited in the first 11 months of 2025.

For up to three hours, most aircraft headed for Greek airports were redirected to Turkey, according to Greek public television ERT.

Air traffic had been resuming progressively since 1100 GMT, authorities said.

Panagiotis Psarros, head of Greece's air traffic controller union, called the incident "very serious" and blamed what he said was "obsolete" airport equipment.

M.Odermatt--BTB

Berliner Tageblatt - Flights grounded in Greece after radio frequency loss

Flights grounded in Greece after radio frequency loss

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