Technical problem prevents flights taking off in Greece (1st Lead)

Aug 22, 2010, 9:49 GMT

Athens - A technical problem prevented flights leaving Greek airports for more than two hours on Sunday morning, aviation authorities said.

Hundreds of passengers were stuck in planes waiting for take-off clearance while a communications malfunction with the air traffic control network was resolved.

The problem began at 8 am (0500 GMT) and lasted until 10:30 am (0730 GMT), a civil aviation authority official told Greek radio.

Flights were able to land normally during the communications breakdown.

The secretary-general of the Greek air traffic controllers union, Giannis Kormoulakis, described the situation as 'chaotic.'

'The entire communications network is down,' he told Greek radio. 'All departing flights have been halted.'

Kormoulakis said the problem was due to 'years of neglecting to modernize the technical equipment for airspace surveillance.'

Officials said a back-up system was being used for contact between the flight-control towers, but this had a limited capacity.

Newspapers linked the problem to claims by air traffic controllers for higher wages. The controllers have staged several strikes this year to press their demands.

On Friday, A technical malfunction at Europe's joint air traffic control agency, Eurocontrol, disrupted 700 flights over northern Europe.