Strikes in Greece cause travel chaos

Foreign Office: 'All passenger ferries across Greece are likely to remain in ports'

Travellers will be stranded by the strike, as these passengers were in December (AFP/Getty Images)

Four days of strikes are disrupting travel to, from and within Greece.

Ferry passengers are the worst affected: members of the Panhellenic Seamen’s Federation (PNO) are on strike until Friday. The Foreign Office warns: “All passenger ferries across Greece are likely to remain in ports on those days.”

Greece’s two biggest trades unions, the General Confederation of Greek Workers and the Civil Servants' Confederation, are staging a 24-hour national strike today which is halting rail services and local public transport.

In addition, the Union of Greek Air Traffic Controllers is staging a walk-out between 11am and 3pm, local time.

According to a Notice to Airmen filed by Eurocontrol, only emergency and VIP flights will be allowed, though overflights will be unaffected.

To complicate matters, members of the Panhellenic Union of Aeronautical Telecommunication Officers are striking between 8am and noon, which is expected to affect flights elsewhere in Greece.

British Airways has cancelled the morning round-trip from Heathrow to Athens, but is deploying a wide-bodied Boeing 777 instead of a smaller Airbus A320 on the following service in order to accommodate the displaced passengers.

The budget airline easyJet said: “We are doing everything possible to minimise the impact of the strike on our customers, and have taken the decision to proactively reschedule and cancel a number of flights, allowing customers to reorganise their journeys.”

Ryanair has re-timed some flights to avoid the strike period, but has not so far cancelled any services.

Passengers who do reach Athens airport will find that no suburban rail or metro trains are running because of the general strike. Buses are running between 9am and 9pm, but are expected to be extremely busy.