Have a flight in or out of Greece on Wednesday? Nationwide strikes planned for February 10 will include air traffic controllers, and airlines have canceled all flights.
Under normal circumstances, at least one flight per destination is allowed to depart or land during a strike in Greece. This will not be the case on Wednesday, as the Eleftherios Venizelos Athens International Airport and all airports in Greece shut down from 00:00-23:59. As a result, some evening flights on February 9 were rescheduled to arrive or depart earlier.
All affected passengers should have been notified. Anyone who was not should call their airline or travel agent immediately.
*Article updated February 9, 2010
Aegean Airlines
Aegean Airlines has its hub in Athens and must therefore cancel all flights on February 10. It also announced the following changes to flights on February 9 to ensure passengers exit the airport before midnight:
• A3 137 Thessaloniki-Athens, departing at 22:45 instead of 23:20
• A3 136 Athens-Thessaloniki, departing at 22:45 instead of 23.30
• A3 606/607 Athens-London-Athens, departing from Athens at 14:45 instead of 17:20 and departing London at 19:45 instead of 22:20 (local time).
Contact info:
Tel: From within Greece 801 11 20000
Tel: From abroad or mobile + 30 (210) 626-1000
website: www.aegeanairlines.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/aegeanairlines
Olympic Air
Olympic Air made its official announcement only in Greek, which is translated to English below. All flights for February 10 are canceled, and changes to flights on February 9 and February 11 are:
Feb 9
• OA 147 Athens-Brussels will depart at 16:00, not 16:30; and Brussels-Athens will depart at 19:10 instead of 19:45.
• OA 245 Athens-Milan-Athens: Departing Athens at 18:00 not 19:20; and departing Milan 20.10 (local time).
• OA 463 & 464 Athens -Beirut- Athens canceled.
• OA 520 & 521 Athens-Heraklion-Athens canceled.
• OA 266 London-Athens, scheduled to depart at 22:15, is canceled since its 4:00 arrival is too late. Passengers on this flight have been rescheduled for February 11 on OA 2260 departing Heathrow at 7:00 (local time) and arriving in Athens at 12:45.
• OA 918 Athens-Thessaloniki will depart at 22.50 instead of 23.30.
Feb 11
A special Thessaloniki-Athens flight OA 2903 will depart at 5:45 and arrive in Athens at 6:30.
Contact info:
Tel: +30 (210) 356-8447 (at Athens International Airport)
Fax: +30 (210) 966-6244
Tel: 801 11 44444 (Sales/reservations, from within Greece)
Tel: +30 (210) 966-6666 (Sales/reservations, from abroad or mobile)
E-mail: olympicairlines.telephone.sales@olympicairlines.gr
website: www.olympicair.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/olympic_air_gr
Athens International Airport
Call Center: +30 (210) 353-0000 (Available 24 hours)
Fax: +30 (210) 353-0001
website: www.aia.gr
Twitter: www.twitter.com/AthensAirport
Sources
“Αλλαγές σε αεροπορικά δρομολόγια λόγω της απεργίας στις 10/02” – Eleftherotypia
“Press Announcement 8/2/2010” — Athens International Airport”
“Press Release 8 February 2010″ (article removed) — Aegean Airlines
“Ματαίωση και αλλαγή δρομολογίων εξ αιτίας απεργίας των Ελεγκτών Εναέριας Κυκλοφορίας” — Olympic Airlines
“Ματαιώνονται όλες οι πτήσεις την Τετάρτη” — Athina 9.84
“Ματαιώνονται όλες οι πτήσεις για αύριο” — Eleftherotypia
Related posts
“Tourism is Greece’s only hope, but can its citizens behave?”
“Three-day ticket for unlimited tourist travel in Athens”
“10 Tips for flying Olympic Airlines”
Screen capture from Athens International Airport website aia.gr
Kat Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 18:05
Hi Darren,
That’s a good question. I’d have to agree with your airline and say ‘possibly.’ I know that it doesn’t reassure you, but things in Greece are unpredictable and these are the conditions under which we live and work most of the time.
The fact your flight is going ahead, means that things may turn out fine. At worst, your airplane will circle the airport until the tower gives permission to land.
On behalf of Greece, I’d like to apologize to you and all travelers.