Athens - Flights to and from Greece were grounded for several hours Thursday as air traffic controllers called a four-hour work stoppage to protest against pension reforms and low salaries.

Air traffic at airports across the country were suspended from 8 am (0600 GMT) to 12 pm (1000 GMT) and air traffic controllers walked off the job, with only emergency flights landing and taking off.

Dozens of airlines were forced to cancel and reschedule flights.

Private airline Aegean said it cancelled 11 flights and rescheduled 46 others while national carrier Olympic said it cancelled 32 flights, including international flights to Istanbul, Frankfurt, Milan, Brussels, Budapest and Sofia.

Olympic said they rescheduled departure times for international flights to Toronto, Canada and New York.

The air traffic controllers were demanding that extra staff be hired and that their health-care benefits be improved. (dpa)