UAE and Gulf flights affected by grounding of fleets in Greece

Planes from the Middle East and Europe flying in Greek airspace could continue to be rerouted for several days after a collapse of radio communications.

Flights in Greek airspace were grounded on Sunday as air-traffic communication in the southern European country was disrupted by a loss of radio frequencies.

It could take several days for normal service to be resumed, a leading expert warned, with travellers advised to expect a difficult period. One Emirates flight has already had to reroute over Bulgaria to avoid Greek airspace, according to a post shared on social media by tracking website Flight Radar.

"Given the years of chronic underinvestment in its aviation industry, this sudden collapse of radio and communication frequency networks across Greece arguably comes as little surprise," Saj Ahmad, chief analyst at StrategicAero Research, told The National.

"For the best part of two decades, the economic turmoil that has beset Greece has meant that critical infrastructure such as radio and telecommunications suddenly failing without a back-up system in place ... travellers are in for a rough couple of days owing to the lack of investment."

He said many planes were grounded, while others in the air would now be forced to reroute "to try and further minimise delays". The knock-on effects for delayed and cancelled flights means it would take several days to clear the backlog, he warned.

Thousands of passengers and a few hundred flights have already been affected, including those from the UAE and the wider Gulf.