Επιστολή IFATCA - Απώλεια Συχνοτήτων 4/01/2026

Dear friends,

Dear colleagues,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Despite the irritation, frustration, and anger caused by a system failure and the

temporary stoppage of all flights within the Athinai/Makedonia FIR for several hours on

Sunday, 4 January 2026—an event that affected the entire network and particularly the South-East (SE) Axis—the usual professionalism demonstrated by air traffic

controllers (ATCOs) in Greece and across the region must be commended.

Their actions ensured, as it shall be, the safety of all passengers, crews, and cargo under

extremely challenging and unexpected conditions.

Many aircraft were diverted or held on the ground as a result of this event. All aircraft

that were airborne at the time were handled safely and brought back without incident.

IFATCA wishes to sincerely thank all ATCOs involved for the service delivered under

extreme and unforeseen circumstances. We also extend our acknowledgement and

consideration to all affected passengers and crews, and we reaffirm our continued

and unwavering commitment to ensuring that they remain safe in the hands of Air

Traffic Control.

Questions must now be answered. A thorough investigation must take place under the

principles of Just Culture to determine what happened and why, in full transparency.

Should evidence of deliberate criminal acts emerge, they must be addressed through

the appropriate legal channels.

While due diligence must be given to this investigation—as well as to previous ones—

and without jumping to conclusions, it is important to recall that IFATCA has already

raised concerns at the highest level regarding past events and practices.

While we recognise the efforts underway to recruit new ATCOs and attempt to

modernise, existing bureaucratic constraints and political considerations significantly

limit the speed at which the situation can improve. For decades, a lack of investment

and inadequate system management in Greece have been observed. IFATCA has

repeatedly warned that failures were not a matter of “if”, but only of “when”.

The operational environment in which ATCOs are required to perform daily, across

most units in Greece, is far from optimal. For example, the prolonged and repeated

reliance on overtime—particularly during peak periods from April to October—to meet

the expected capacity demand and to mitigate or conceal the lack of investment

(staff/procedures/organisation/system modernisation) must come to an end. Route

charges paid by airlines are intended to deliver, maintain, and improve a safe and

efficient air traffic control system, in full transparency and in accordance with

international standards.

Safety must remain the highest priority for all.

As long as system reliability is not improved; a modern, technologically advanced

system is not deployed; new working condition structures are not implemented;

transparent, professional financial and human resources management is not

delivered; and standards are not merely documented to pass audits but effectively

applied, it cannot be guaranteed that Greece is fully meeting its obligations toward the

local and international aviation community—and/or toward the employees operating

at the heart of an increasingly degraded system.

There have been too many warning signs to ignore. The event of Sunday, 4 January

2026, will have a significant cost for all stakeholders. It is hoped that concrete and

lasting solutions will emerge from this event, allowing a change in management

direction before a real “iceberg” is ultimately struck.

Frédéric Deleau

IFATCA Executive Vice-President Europe

Greece closure FIR 04012026.pdf

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