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Strong reactions from airlines such as Sky Express but also from them air traffic controllers triggered by the choice of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to carry out checks on the approach systems of the Athens airport on June 10 and 11, in the middle of the summer peak. The checks were carried out between 15:00 and 18:00, in a time zone in which air traffic is highly increased, which, according to the critics of the decision, burdened the operation of the airport, leading to significant delays, which in some cases exceeded one hour in both departures and arrivals.
Sources with knowledge of the matter report to “K” that these are established checks, which are carried out every six monthsin order to ensure the proper operation of aircraft approach and navigation radio aids.
Regarding the time of their execution, it is pointed out that the only aircraft that Greece has for this specific procedure was stuck due to a delay in receiving a spare part.
For this reason, the alternative solution of using a Dassault Falcon 2000 aircraft, which belongs to the Civil Aviation Service of Bulgaria, was chosen, so that there would be no delay in the re-certification of the systems. “The suffering would have been avoided if the CAA administration had fulfilled its obligations in a timely and correct manner”air traffic controllers said in a statement.
At the same time, Sky Express requested, among other things, that from now on any action capable of significantly affecting the operation of the airport be accompanied by timely and full information of the airlines, with a clear assessment of the effects and not at the last minute as it says happened in this case.
