The Greek government has issued several urgent measures in an attempt to reduce a growing problem in Greece. On the surface, all is well as the country’s tourism sector continues to grow.
According to the European Travel Commission, foreign arrivals in Greece are up 8% so far this year.
This problem is particularly strong in the aviation sector, because of how highly regulated it is. Greek airports are now persistently experiencing flight delays, and the Greek government has decided to do something about it – urgently.
The Greek government turned to the Eurozone institutions for help, however, the help came with some tough conditions. One of these was the “relaunch” of privatization of regional airports.
The privatization process of 14 regional airports was then completed in 2017. But this was not a smooth takeover. During the lengthy transition process of privatizing these public properties, the airports appear to have been so poorly maintained, being “seriously neglected”. This was just last week.
Athens International Airport has a major problem with persistent flight delays. On 15. August, a total of 243 flights departed with a delay of more than 15 minutes. According to Flightradar24, this constituted 67% of that day’s departures – a staggering figure.
The day before, 14th August, Athens had 78% delayed departures.
At Heraklion International Airport that figure stood at 66% for the same day.
Mykonos Airport, one of the 14 privatized airports, has a rating of 2.1 on Google Maps. Reviewers cite an “appalling experience” and “overcrowded” conditions, with one calling it “perfectly disorganized”.
The measures include an increase to the number of air traffic controllers, a transfer of civil servants to the Civil Aviation Authority, and adding one million Euros annually for training costs of staff employed in the infrastructure serving the aviation sector.
However, despite of the measures being “urgent”, they will take time to take effect and the peak summer season will have passed. In the meantime, the problems will persist.
