Cyprus Airways CEO criticises upcoming ATC strikes in Greece, citing “terrible disruption to passengers”

The CEO of Cyprus Airways has criticised an upcoming day-long strike by air traffic controllers in Greece, stating the action will result in “terrible disruption to passengers”.  

The Cypriot flag-carrier has seen all its flights on February 28, 2025, to Athens cancelled, ahead of a weekend that the airline would typically experience increased demand on this route. Both Greece and Cyprus celebrate a public holiday on March 3, 2025, which marks the beginning of Lent in the Eastern Orthodox Church.  

“This has resulted in terrible disruption to passengers, scrambling to change flights and travel plans in addition to a huge cost to airlines,” said Thanos Pascalis, CEO of Cyprus Airways in a social media post. Cyprus Airways has made several changes to its flight schedule, reallocating flights set to depart on February 28, 2025, to different dates.  

Greece's air traffic controllers, represented by the federation of Greek public sector trade unions ADEDY, announced the full day of strike action on February 21, 2025. The strike is part of a larger nationwide strike across Greece which is in response to the country’s deadliest rail disaster that occurred two years ago.  

Aegean Airlines and Olympic Air have cancelled all domestic and international flights on the day of strike action, with services in and out of Greece said to be affected either side of the strike action.  

Pascalis also noted that the airline has yet to reach a resolution with Pratt & Whitney regarding the grounding of its A220 aircraft, adding that discussions are ongoing. "We are working on it," he stated. The airline commenced A220 operations in August 2023.  

Cyprus Airways plans to introduce new routes and increase frequencies over the summer 2025 period.