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Report: Greek airspace blackout caused by old systems and not cyberattack

Investigators in a recent report said that the eight-hour radio blackout at Greek airports, which forced authorities to clear airspace in the country and divert dozens of flights to other airports was partly due to an outdated communication system.

On January 4, air traffic controllers were unable to contact most planes including dozens of aircraft heading towards Greek airports as the radio frequencies dropped and were replaced with static.

Experts in aviation said that the incident was unprecedented for a country in southern Europe.

The report of a five member investigating committee, commissioned by government, found that the exact cause of the problem, where multiple systems went 'out of sync', caused a scramble of communications between towers at airports and planes is still unclear.

The report rated the incident "low risk" in terms of?flight security, ruled out cyberattacks and stated that pilots and air traffic controllers were able to respond effectively.

The report was sent to Greece's Transport Ministry and published late Tuesday. It states that the voice communication system of the Civil Aviation Authority and its critical supporting telecommunications are outdated technologies, no longer supported and without operational guarantees.

According to the report, "the Greek telecommunications company OTE has been warning civil aviation authorities since 2019 that their systems need new circuits." The report called for new transceivers, among other things. The report also called for the creation of an?emergency response?mechanism that would be shared between OTE and the Civil Aviation Authority.

A transport ministry official said that Greece's systems were in line with EU Standards in response to the report. However, the ministry has implemented a plan for upgrading its systems, which is expected to be complete in 2028.

Unions have called for upgrades since years but say that the system is unsafe, particularly in light of the tourism boom, with millions flying into Greece each year. They said on Wednesday that the report vindicated their protests. Reporting by Renee Maltezou, Editing by Edward McAllister & Sharon Singleton

(source: Reuters)