24-hour strike to halt flights

2009-07-10 13:00

Athens - Greek air traffic controllers will bring misery to thousands of holidaymakers on Saturday with a 24-hour strike.

All flights to and from Greece will be suspended from midnight on Friday until midnight on Saturday, as air traffic controllers shut down the countries airspace, with only emergency flights landing and taking off.

Workers are determined to go ahead with the 24-hour strike just as Greek courts are in the process of ruling the action illegal.

The strike is expected to affect hundreds of flights with many journeys between the Middle East and Europe also hit because the aircraft pass over Greek airspace.

Air traffic controllers have staged repeated strikes since the start of the year over pension reforms and salaries. Workers are demanding that extra staff be hired and that their health-care benefits be improved.

They are also striking over the poor quality of communications systems, which they say is so bad that songs from radio stations often interrupt conversations with pilots.

Union officials insist the main radar systems used to track aircraft also sometimes fail and has vowed to continue with protests unless the government takes appropriate measures.

The air traffic controllers union say between 2 500 and 3 000 planes on average fly through Greek airspace every day.

"This is the worst thing that could happen during the tourist season, since we are already suffering from the worldwide economic crisis," said the Gerasimos Fokas, president of the Greek Hoteliers Assocation.

Tourism is one of Greece's biggest earners, along with shipping. It makes up about 18% of the country's gross domestic product.

- SAPA