If you’re on your way
to Greece today or tomorrow, you may want to double check your plans.
Another 24-hour general strike is taking place over austerity plans. The
strike effects the entire country and will mainly disrupt international
flights and ferry services, expected to leave hundreds of travellers
stranded in Greece over the next couple of days.
A 24-hour general strike began this morning when the streets began to fill with protesters in Athens and other major Greek cities. There will be several blockades, the biggest at Piraeus, where protests will stop travellers from being able to board ferries headed to Greece’s islands. A similar blockage took place last week, leaving countless tourists stranded and having to make alternative travel plans.
This is the 5th protest against austerity measures to be implemented until 2014 in order to help Greece get out of its financial crunch. Since February austerity protests have disrupted air travel, delayed trains and blocked roads. This of course doesn’t help the tourism industry, one of the strongest industries in the country for bringing in foreign income. To read more about previous strikes, check out Greece: the uprise traveller’s should know about.
Parliament is expected to meet today to discuss certain terms of the austerity measures, pension plans which raises the retirement age to 65 and cuts pension funds for retired workers.
Aegean Airlines has cancelled 14 of its flights today from Athens to Kavala, Chios, Ioannina, Mykonos, Mytilini and Santorini. Olympic Air has also cancelled most of its domestic flights today due to the strikes.
If you are planning to fly to Greece today, either check on-line to see if your flight is delayed or contact your airline directly.