A government probe released Tuesday has confirmed that a major radio frequency failure that brought travel chaos across Greece on January 4 was caused by aging infrastructure rather than external interference. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) chief Giorgos Saounatsos resigned after the publication of the probe.
The Infrastructure and Transport Ministry stated that an expert committee found “no indications of a cyberattack or malicious interference.” Instead, the report highlighted that the Civil Aviation Authority’s voice and telecom systems rely on “outdated technology” no longer supported by the original manufacturer, making reliable operation impossible to guarantee.
The failure was traced to “digital noise” that resulted in a loss of synchronization between regional control centers in Athens and Macedonia. This triggered a malfunction in a critical number of beacons, forcing a temporary shutdown of essential telecom connections. While aircraft already in flight were unaffected, the disruption grounded planes for several hours until the system was successfully rebooted at 5 p.m.
New technology needed, it was determined after travel chaos in Greece
To prevent a recurrence, the ministry recommended an immediate transition to Voice over IP (VoIP) technology, including the purchase of nearly five hundred new transceivers and the creation of a unified emergency response mechanism between aviation authorities and telecom providers. Despite the travel chaos, the incident was classified as “low-risk,” with no direct threat to aviation security.
On that day, major airlines, including Aegean, EasyJet, British Airways, and Ryanair, cancelled or diverted numerous flights, impacting routes to and from Athens and other Greek destinations. Several flights were diverted to alternative airports in countries including Italy, Croatia, Hungary, Albania, and Cyprus.
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