Mass flight delays at Ben-Gurion Airport: what's the cause
On July 26, Ben-Gurion Airport experienced mass flight delays due to a radar malfunction in Greece. 167 flights departed late, 150 by more than 15 minutes. Delays affected flights to and from Europe. Airlines are rerouting, extending flight times. The outage is expected to impact nearly every flight crossing Greek airspace.
On Sunday, July 26, Ben-Gurion Airport saw mass delays for flights to and from Europe. The cause is a radar malfunction in Greece, controlling part of the country's airspace near Crete. The outage occurred at the peak of the summer season: 90,000 passengers were expected to pass through the airport, with 288 departures and 260 arrivals scheduled. The malfunction is expected to affect nearly every flight whose route crosses Greek airspace. Airlines are rerouting, lengthening flights. Since midnight, 167 flights departed late, 150 by more than 15 minutes. 94 aircraft landed late, 68 by more than 15 minutes. Several flights to Crete and Larnaca were delayed about 3 hours, some from Larnaca and Albania up to 7 hours. Eight flights were canceled, mainly to Rome and Crete. Data from the past week shows the longest delays on flights to Corfu (average 113 minutes), the most punctual to Baku (24 minutes). The most punctual time is 05:00 (average delay 40 minutes), the most problematic 14:40 (83 minutes). The leader in delays is Blue Bird (99 minutes), the most punctual is Azerbaijan Airlines (20 minutes). It is noted that delays may increase due to priority for American tanker aircraft.