Last week the Greek government issued several urgent measures in an attempt to reduce a growing problem in Greece. On the surface, all is well as the country's tourism sector continues to grow. According to the European Travel Commission, foreign arrivals in Greece are up 8% so far this year. Furthermore, the national carrier Aegean Airlines continues to grow in both point to point and transfer traffic.

Aegean at Athens
Athens International Airport is one of Europe's busiest. Photo: Aero Icarus via Flickr

But this growth has placed a strain on public infrastructure, which has not been keeping up to support the strong and consistent increase in demand. This problem is particularly strong in the aviation sector, because of how highly regulated it is. Greek airports are now persistently experiencing flight delays, and the Greek government has decided to do something about it - urgently.

The historical context

The Greek economy passed through the financial crisis of 2009 with severe turbulence. According to The World Bank, Greek GDP contracted by more than a quarter between 2008 and 2014. With tax revenues falling as a result of the economy contracting, and the Greek government already spending more than it was earning, borrowing grew rapidly and debt spiraled out of control.

The Greek government turned to the Eurozone institutions for help. As was reported by BBC News at the time, the help came with some tough conditions. One of these was the "relaunch" of privatization of regional airports.

Mykonos airport
Mykonos airport was one which was privatized. Photo: Wikimedia

The privatization process of 14 regional airports was then completed in 2017, as per MarketWatch. But this was not a smooth takeover. During the lengthy transition process of privatizing these public properties, the airports appear to have been so poorly maintained that The National Herald reports them as being "seriously neglected". This was just last week.

Flight delays and other problems

Athens International Airport has a major problem with persistent flight delays. On the day of writing this article (15th August), a total of 243 flights departed with a delay of more than 15 minutes. According to Flightradar24, this constituted 67% of that day's departures - a staggering figure.

The day before, 14th August, Athens had 78% delayed departures. In absolute numbers, that is 285 flights that left at least a quarter of an hour late. At Heraklion International Airport that figure stood at 66% for the same day.

Heraklion International Airport "Nikos Kazantzakis"
Heraklion International Airport delays are all too common. Photo: Wikimedia

Mykonos Airport, one of the 14 privatized airports, has a rating of 2.1 on Google Maps. Reviewers cite an "appalling experience" and "overcrowded" conditions, with one calling it "perfectly disorganized". Heraklion International Airport also has a 2.1 average rating.

The Transport Ministry of the Greek government is hoping that its latest set of decisions will help alleviate some of these infrastructural issues. The Greek press has dubbed them urgent measures and are detailed by The National Herald. They include an increase to the number of air traffic controllers, a transfer of civil servants to the Civil Aviation Authority, and adding one million Euros annually for training costs of staff employed in the infrastructure serving the aviation sector.

The implications continue

The Greek press is calling these political decisions measures of emergency. But despite them being urgent, they will take time to take effect and the peak summer season will have passed. In the meantime, the problems will persist.

The delays are particularly problematic for the Greek national carrier Aegean Airlines.

Aegean's hub, Athens International Airport, is experiencing such delays that Aegean cannot offer a satisfactory transfer experience for its passengers. Alex Macheras tweeted last week that Aegean's CEO Dimitris Gerogiannis has emailed frequent flyers to apologize for ongoing delays, citing "air traffic control" for this. Gerogiannis also explained that this is beyond the control of Aegean.

Aegean in Athens
Aegean dominates in Greece. Photo: Wikimedia

The Greek financial paper Naftemporiki explains that these delays affect "the quality of Greece's tourism product". Given that The Financial Times claims Greece "cannot live without tourism", it is not surprising that the Greek government is (finally) committing to urgent measures to do something about it.

The measures of urgency are the government's work this summer. However, it is only next year that will we be able to tell the extent to which these measures succeeded in reducing the persistent aviation problems in Greece.