in-cyprus 5 January 2026
Flight delays across Greek airports on Sunday have raised questions about outdated telecommunications infrastructure after the Civil Aviation Authority called the incident “unprecedented”.
The authority is investigating a technical issue that caused simultaneous “noise” across multiple radio frequencies for the first time, disrupting communications within the Athens Flight Information Region (FIR).
According to experts, “noise” issues typically affect a single transmission centre or occur as isolated incidents that have been successfully addressed in the past.
Initial concerns that the problems could stem from an advanced cyber attack were quickly rejected, the authority said. Initial indications show the “noise” came from telecommunications infrastructure affecting communications within the Athens FIR.
The authority uses circuits from OTE, which stated yesterday that its connection circuits provided to the service are fully operational. The authority also has its own telecommunications infrastructure and equipment, which many experts characterise as “old” technology.
The prevailing assessment among experts is that the technical issue likely stemmed from a fault in the authority’s telecommunications infrastructure and equipment.
The fault’s magnitude possibly expanded due to a combination of factors, creating the “unprecedented incident” that affected frequencies to such a degree that it caused massive disruption.
The Air Traffic Controllers Union said in a statement that communications systems are outdated, vulnerable and inadequately maintained. “Today’s situation did not arise suddenly; it was pre-announced,” the union said, demanding an immediate equipment upgrade.
The Infrastructure and Transport Ministry said an action plan is being implemented to upgrade and modernise air navigation systems in consultation with European bodies, including DG MOVE, EASA and EUROCONTROL.
The plan, with a completion horizon of 2028, includes 364 actions organised in seven basic pillars covering Data Link services development, the TopSky ATC One air traffic control system upgrade, performance-based navigation implementation, Mode S radar development, CP1 Regulation implementation and air traffic management improvements.
(information from cnn.gr)
