How a bonus leads to minimization of delays at Greek airports

Of Foti Foteinou

2019 was the year of records for Greek airports and Greek tourism. On the other hand, 2019 was also the year of long delays.

The extent of the phenomenon was so great, with the result that the Ministry of Transport forwarded a provision to the Parliament, which instituted additional salary benefits to CAA employees for the better management of air traffic.

Indeed, Law 4647/2019 instituted a bonus for air traffic controllers, having as a condition the fulfillment of the annual national targets related to ATFM delays and in particular those related to air traffic control (ATC Capacity, ATC Staffing), exclusively for the time period. period from 1 May to 31 October each year.

This law was passed at the end of 2019, in order to address the “emerging problem” of the coming years, although the outbreak of the pandemic brought new data.

A few days ago, an amendment was tabled and voted in Parliament, which clarified the current for 2020 and gave guidelines for the years 2022 and 2023.

It was preceded by a JMC of the Ministries of Transport and Finance, according to which it was decided “the granting to the serving employees of the air traffic controllers sector, a total amount corresponding to 1.5 euros on the route service units of the year 2020, in order to strengthen the system, increasing efficiency and tackling high seasonality in air traffic “.

The improvement in traffic came through the reduction of breaks

According to aviation market analysts, “the payment of the first bonus made to air traffic controllers has had a positive effect, as, compared to 2019, there is a significant reduction in delays.”

Unconfirmed information speaks of a 70% – 90% reduction in delays in June per case.

At this point, analysts note that they do not refer to the delays currently coming from major European airports, such as Amsterdam, or from British airports, due to staff shortages, which affect – to some extent – Greek as well.

But how has better air traffic management come about? Mainly due to the cut in the breaks of the controllers, who now manage more aircraft movements.

On the occasion of the recent legal provisions, the Ministry of Transport accepts requests for the payment of the bonus to a larger portion of CAA employees.

For example, OSYPA convened an extraordinary board of directors on Monday, arguing that “the ministry continues to manage in practice the problems of the Service, but also of the employees in an unequal way”.

It is noted that, according to data from the CAA, in the period January – May 2022 the recovery of passenger traffic at Greek airports, compared to 2019, amounted to 86%.

Respectively, the flights, in the first 5 months, were 147,662, recording a decrease of only 5.3% compared to 2019.