Travellers heading to Greece or Cyprus in the coming days have been urged to brace for lengthy delays, as the region’s airspace buckles under record traffic volumes, according to Israel Hayom, Israel’s best-selling daily newspaper.
The paper reports that on top of the usual seasonal surge at Ben Gurion Airport, Israel’s main hub, the airspace above the Eastern Mediterranean is now operating close to full capacity. Citing Eurocontrol figures, it notes that European airspace has recently handled record volumes of roughly 37,000 flights a day. That pressure has been compounded by the rerouting of some air traffic away from areas affected by the region’s security situation, pushing additional volume over Greece and Cyprus — both in the grip of a booming peak tourist season.
The strain was especially evident on Tuesday, when Israeli passengers were left waiting for hours for an aircraft that had yet to leave Greek airspace. Departure boards at airports across Greece and Cyprus continued to show widespread delays.
Greece, the paper points out, is one of Europe’s most significant bottlenecks, with air traffic control centres in Athens and Thessaloniki struggling under staff shortages and stretched capacity just as summer demand peaks. Even once an aircraft is ready to leave the gate, it notes, it may still have to wait for clearance to enter controlled airspace or for a take-off and landing slot to become free.
At popular holiday airports — including Larnaca, Paphos, Rhodes, Crete, Corfu, Kos, Santorini and Mykonos — even minor delays are triggering knock-on disruption throughout the day’s schedule. The paper concludes that the effects are being felt as far away as Ben Gurion, where a late arrival from Greece or Cyprus frequently delays that aircraft’s next scheduled service back to the region.
