A TOTAL of 29 flights to and from Greece were cancelled for today because of a 24-hour air traffic control strike in Greece, Hermes Airports’ Adamos Aspris said yesterday.
The cancellations involve passengers flying with Cyprus Airways, Olympic Air and Aegean Airlines and only affect Larnaca Airport.
All three companies have made alternative arrangements.
Aegean Airways have rescheduled today’s flights for tomorrow.
State carrier Cyprus Airways (CY) said yesterday that its flights to and from Athens, Thessaloniki, Rhodes and Heraklion were cancelled for today.
About 1,800 people would be affected, said spokesperson Kyriacos Kyriacou commenting on the CY flights.
A total of 14 CY flights have been cancelled: eight to/from Athens, four to/from Thessaloniki and two to/from Heraklion-Rhodes.
The airline said that it was working towards alternative arrangements for passengers to depart either before or after the strike.
A bigger capacity aircraft was used yesterday evening to take passengers to Athens and from Athens to Larnaca.
For Thessaloniki there will be two extra flights tomorrow at 4:45am and 7:35am.
For Rhodes-Heraklion, passengers will be able to travel on Friday.
“We have to say that air traffic control strikes or other strikes are getting more frequent,” Kyriacou said.
He added that because CY passes through Greece to get to the rest of Europe, there have been occasions of multiple delays on all flights.
This happens because of work-to-rule strikes where employees work strictly according to the legal terms of their contract resulting in a slowing down of services.
“In addition to passengers suffering, this is a large financial burden for us,” Kyriacou said.
Passengers are asked to get in touch with their travel agents.
To get in touch with CY directly, call on the toll-free number 80000008 or +35722365700 for those calling from abroad.
To get in touch with Aegean Airways call 8011120000 on your landline or else 2106261000; to call from abroad.
For Olympic Air call 80011001.
Passengers can also call Hermes Airports line at 77778833 to get current information on flights.
