In its statement, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport said:

“Today, the Governor of the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (HCAA), Giorgos Saounatsos, submitted his resignation to the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Christos Dimas, and it was accepted. The Deputy Governor for Air Navigation, Giorgos Vagenas, will temporarily assume the duties of Governor, while the official procedures for appointing a new Governor will begin immediately.”

Mr. Saounatsos’s departure follows a damning report on the blackout, which highlighted serious problems related to the outdated systems and limited capacity of air navigation infrastructure, as well as weaknesses in the overall management of critical infrastructure. Although the government stressed that flight safety was not put at risk and described the incident as “low risk,” the scale and duration of the disruption made leadership decisions unavoidable.

The temporary appointment of Air Navigation Deputy Governor Giorgos Vagenas aims to ensure the smooth operation of the HCAA during a period when the ministry has already announced a comprehensive plan to upgrade systems, in cooperation with the European Commission and Eurocontrol, and to set up a special crisis management team to prevent similar incidents in the future.

At the same time, by launching the process to appoint a new governor, the ministry is seeking to send a message of institutional recovery and faster implementation of necessary reforms in the critical field of air traffic management.