This summer it doesn’t feel like it’s prescribed flight and passenger records but also delays V Departures And Arrival aircraft. Already in the first four months of this year, compared with the corresponding period of 2019, the number of passengers served by the largest airport in the country “El. Venizelos”increased by 4% to 6.6 million people.

During the same period, the number of flights increased by 2.9%, amounting to approximately 59.4 thousand flights. Accordingly, at 14 largest airports in the region passenger traffic increased annually in the first quarter of this year by 2.5%, while the number of flights decreased by only 2.7%.

However, in addition to good results, flight delays have also returned. According to K., the number of movements (arrivals and departures) at Eleftherios Venizelos Airport is 18 per hour, while last year it was 28. This decrease is due to the practice adopted by air traffic controllers who decide to reduce the speed of aircraft traffic processing for reasons that they themselves considered necessary, for example, to complete the modernization of electronic systems. And if last summer there were “excessive efforts”, as aviation sources note, on the part of air traffic controllers, then this year, for technical reasons that they themselves cite (although the technological infrastructure cannot degrade dramatically in less than 12 months), the number of moves should be limited to 18.

After France and Germany, Greece has the most flight delays.

However, this practice not only causes inconvenience to passengers, but also causes a deterioration in the pan-European position of Athens in terms of the accuracy of arrival and departure times. According to Eurocontrol, on Sunday, May 7, 65% of flights departed within 15 minutes compared to the scheduled time, while in the corresponding period of 2022 this figure was 80%. On the same day, 53.7% of flights arrived within 15 minutes of scheduled time. minutes of scheduled time compared to 82% last year.

Also, according to the application for tracking flights in “El. Venizelos, on Monday almost 70% of flights did not arrive on time, with an average delay of more than 20 minutes. As for departing flights, about 80% of them are delayed by 24 minutes. Between April 26 and May 2, Greece, according to Eurocontrolranks third after France and Germany in terms of flight delays. At the European level, this year there are more delays than last year, the main reason for which are the strike movements in France in connection with the reform of the pension system.

According to market participants, air traffic controllers unofficially use negotiating tactics aimed at obtaining larger subsidies, including due to the fact that they are obliged to share subsidies (route and airfield area fees) provided through Eurocontrol with employees of the Civil Aviation Authority. However, if the number of movements per hour does not increase, delays will increase due to the forecasted arrival of a new record flight this summer. For the period up to July 2, flights at Greek airports will be increased by 5-20% compared to last year, when they exceeded 2019 levels, according to Eurocontrol.