Athens strike shuts Greek air travel

A 24-hour strike today by Greek air traffic controllers will shut down Athens Airport for the day. They are protesting at the government’s plans to cut bonuses paid to all civil servants, in an effort to try and reduce the country’s debt. The airport and air traffic around the country will be brought to a standstill and flights will not be able to pass over the affected area and instead have to make diversion to fly around the country.

Two of the major airlines in Greece, Air Aegean and Olympic Air have cancelled all their planned flights for today and still had to delay four flights late last night. A spokesman for both of the airlines said that they were sorry to have to cancel flights at short notice, but the situation was out of their hands. An airport statement released yesterday simply said that there would be no flight today because of the 24-hour walkout by air traffic controllers.

Other public sector workers were expected to join in the protest today against the loss of their bonuses, which could chaos across much more of the country. The union representing the striking workers said that the government’s planned cuts were unfair. Andreas Loverdos, the Labour Minister for Greece, called on the striking air traffic controllers and other civil servants to accept the new cuts and help their country in times of need. Mr Loverdos also announced plans to raise the retirement age to try and boost the failing economy that is thought to be in €290 billion in debt.