Nicosia: There were no flight safety issues caused by yesterday's prolonged blackout on almost all radio frequencies of Athens FIR, the President of the Mediterranean Flight Safety Foundation (FSF-MED), Chrysanthos Chrysanthou, told CNA on Monday. He added that information suggests that this was a matter of equipment upgrades and that the relevant authorities in Cyprus were able to manage all flights that avoided Greek airspace.
According to Cyprus News Agency, there is still insufficient information about what exactly caused the problem. Chrysanthou mentioned that from contacts with people in the field, it appears that the problem may be due to systems that have not been modernized, noting, however, that it did not cause any problems with flight safety.
"As far as we know, there were no problems with flight safety, either in the Greek or in Cypriot airspace. The number of flights passing through the Cypriot airspace increased significantly because they were coming from other airspaces via Cyprus, avoiding the Greek airspace while there was no communication with the pilots," he added.
He also noted that there was another issue regarding the transfer of data from Greek airspace to other airspaces. When an aircraft passes from one country's airspace to another, the other country is informed in advance by the control center of the country through which the aircraft is passing, and transfers the data so that when it arrives in the other airspace, the air traffic controllers possess this data.
"We cannot say with certainty what caused it, but what we can say is that it did not cause any problems with flight safety," he reiterated.
When asked about the possibility of external interference, Chrysanthou stated that interference from another country has not been confirmed. "Interference usually occurs at certain frequencies; it is difficult to interfere with all frequencies. The information points to this being a matter of equipment upgrades. There are also issues between controllers and politicians, problems that in our opinion should not exist. These are issues that should have been resolved by political leaders, civil aviation, transport, etc., without delay," he said.
When questioned if any additional measures were taken in Cyprus during the disruption, he confirmed that the competent authorities in Cyprus were able to manage all flights that avoided the Greek airspace, either from Turkey or from the south, without any problems.