Civil aviation agency split in two
Two years after legislation designed to restructure Greece’s civil aviation system was approved in Parliament, presidential decrees have been issued splitting the Civil Aviation Authority (YPA) into two separate bodies – an independent agency (APA) that will oversee all of the country’s 44 airports, both private and state-run, and a civil aviation service that will only manage the state-owned ones.
On top of operating as an economic regulator, APA will supervise air traffic management, aeronautical information services and meteorological services. It will also oversee communications, navigation, surveillance and interoperability services, as well as administer areas of security and safety.
According to the presidential decrees that were published in the Government Gazette on Monday, APA will employ 2,512 people, while another 487 will staff the new civil aviation authority, also known as YPA. The two agencies will employ a total of 2,999 workers.
The legislation for this reform was passed in the fall of 2016 amid pressure from Greece’s lenders. Fraport Greece, a joint venture between German airport operator Fraport and the local Copelouzos Group, signed a deal in 2015, meanwhile, to operate 14 regional airports – including those on popular tourist islands like Corfu, Myconos, Santorini and Rhodes – for 40 years.
