Fraport Greece on Friday pointed to the cancellation of flights by Easyjet from and to Thessaloniki’s Macedonia Airport, announced the same day, as confirming its concerns over the start of maintenance works on the airport’s main runway by a state-appointed contractor.
According to reports, Easyjet flights over the next two days were suspended, with the reasons given being weather conditions (fog) in tandem with the auxiliary runway in Thessaloniki not being equipped with an up-to-date instrument landing system.
“Today’s cancellations of flights from Thessaloniki Makedonia airport by an international airline, relate to the same strong concerns raised over a year ago by Fraport Greece, the local authorities, the airport community and the local tourism over the implementation of the state works at the airport and the subsequent reduction in airport’s traffic,” was the low-key reaction by the German-Greek consortium.
Fraport Greece, which assumed the management of 14 airports around Greece last April, had proposed that the maintenance and repair works be bumped to a period with lower passenger and flight traffic.
“Fraport Greece in an effort to address these concerns proposed a number of different solutions. The State – as it was its right – determined that the works should proceed and Fraport Greece is now providing the State appointed contractor all assistance it requires for the speedy and safe completion of the works,” a press release added.