Athens International Airport Info

General Information

The airport was opened in March 2001 to replace the now-closed Athens (Ellinikon) International Airport. The first arrival was an Olympic Airways flight from Montreal and the second one was an Olympic Aviation flight from Kythira. The first departure was a KLM flight to Amsterdam. The airport is located between the towns of Markopoulo, Koropi, Spata and Loutsa, about 20 km (12 mi) to the east of central Athens (30 km (19 mi) by road, due to intervening hills). The airport is named after Elefthérios Venizélos, the prominent Cretan political figure and Prime Minister of Greece, who made an outstanding contribution to the development of Greek aviation and the Hellenic Air Force in the 1930s.The airport currently has two terminals: the Main Terminal, and the Satellite Terminal accessible by a foot-tunnel from the Main Terminal. As of 2009, a new above ground link to the midfield satellite terminal is under construction with a completion date by the end of 2010. Once completed, the complex will be used as a Schengen facility.It has two runways that are each approximately 4 km (2.5 mi) long. The airport was developed by public-private partnership with Greece holding 55% of the shares. The airport is designed to be upgraded over the ensuing years in order to accommodate the increase in air travel, and its upgrades are planned in a six-phase framework. The first (current) phase initially allowed the airport to accommodate 16 million passengers a year, but was upgraded to 21 million passengers a year with out progressing to the next phase thanks primarily to IT advances.The sixth phase will allow the airport to accommodate as many as 50 million passengers a year. The current runways are designed to accommodate 50 million passengers a year with the completion of the sixth phase.In 2009, the airport handled 16.225.885 passengers, -1.5% than in 2008. It is also an airport that has received approval from the European Aviation Safety Agencyand the Federal Aviation Administration for take-offs and landings of the biggest passenger jet worldwide, the Airbus A380. It is also among the 25 busiest airports in Europe. In 2005 and 2006, the Airport was awarded the Skytrax award for best airport in Southern Europe.

Main TerminalThe Main Terminal Building handles the all intra-Schengen flights, as well as several non-Schengen flights. All check-in desks are located in the Main Terminal. It has three separate levels, one for arrivals, one for departures and a food court level complete with a view of the eastern runway.

Satellite Terminal The Satellite Terminal handles non-Schengen flights only. It is easily accessible through an underground link complete with moving walkways. As of 2009, part of the Satellite Terminal is closed and a new above ground link to the midfield satellite terminal is under construction with a completion date by the end of 2010. Once completed, the complex will be used as a Schengen facility.[6] It has two levels, one for arrivals and the other for departures.

Airlines & Destinations

Airlines	Destinations	Concourse
Adria Airways	Seasonal: Ljubljana	B
Aegean Airlines	Cairo, Istanbul-Atatürk, Larnaca, London-Heathrow, Tel Aviv	A
Aegean Airlines	Alexandroupolis, Barcelona, Berlin-Tegel, Bologna [begins 29 March], Brussels, Chania, Chios, Corfu, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Heraklion, Kos, Madrid, Milan-Malpensa, Munich, Mykonos, Mytilene, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Rhodes, Rome-Fiumicino, Samos, Santorini, Sitia, Strasbourg [begins 2011], Stuttgart, Thessaloniki Seasonal: Venice-Marco Polo, Turin [begins 18 June]	B
Aer Lingus	Seasonal: Dublin	A
Aeroflot	Moscow-Sheremetyevo	A
Aerosvit Airlines	Donetsk, Kiev-Boryspil, Odessa	A
Air Canada	Seasonal: Montréal-Trudeau, Toronto-Pearson	A
Air China	Beijing-Capital [resumes 11 May], Munich [begins 11 May]	A
Air France	Paris-Charles de Gaulle	B
Air Malta	Malta	B
Air Méditerranée	Paris-Charles de Gaulle	B
Air Moldova	Chişinău	A
Air Transat	Montréal-Trudeau, Toronto-Pearson	A
AirBaltic	Seasonal: Riga	B
Alitalia	Naples, Rome-Fiumicino	B
Atlasjet	İzmir	B
Armavia	Yerevan	A
Austrian Airlines	Vienna	B
Austrian operated by Tyrolean Airways	Seasonal: Vienna	B
Belle Air	Tirana	A
Blue1	Seasonal: Helsinki	B
British Airways	London-Heathrow	A
Brussels Airlines	Brussels	B
Bulgaria Air	Sofia	A
Carpatair	Timişoara	A
Continental Airlines	Newark	A
Croatia Airlines	Seasonal: Dubrovnik [begins 31 May], Zagreb	A
Cyprus Airways	Larnaca, Paphos	A
Czech Airlines	Prague	B
Delta Air Lines	New York–JFK Seasonal: Atlanta	A
EasyJet	London-Gatwick, Manchester	A
EasyJet	Berlin-Schönefeld, Milan-Malpensa, Paris-Orly, Rome-Fiumicino	B
EgyptAir	Cairo	A
El Al	Tel Aviv	A
Emirates	Dubai	A
Estonian Air	Seasonal: Tallinn	B
Etihad Airways	Abu Dhabi	A
Finnair	Seasonal: Helsinki	B
Georgian Airways	Tbilisi	A
Germanwings	Seasonal: Cologne/Bonn, Stuttgart	B
Gulf Air	Bahrain	A
Hellenic Imperial Airways	Seasonal: Johannesburg,	A
Iberia	Madrid	B
Izair	Izmir	A
Jat Airways	Belgrade	A
Jetairfly	Seasonal: Brussels-South Charleroi [begins 8 April]	B
KLM	Amsterdam	B
Libyan Airlines	Tripoli	A
LOT Polish Airlines	Warsaw Seasonal: Kraków	B
Lufthansa	Frankfurt, Munich	B
Lufthansa Regional operated by Contact Air	Seasonal: Stuttgart	B
Lufthansa Regional operated by Eurowings	Düsseldorf	B
Malév Hungarian Airlines	Budapest	B
Meridiana Fly	Seasonal: Milan-Malpensa, Verona	B
Middle East Airlines	Beirut	A
Norwegian Air Shuttle	Oslo-Rygge, Stockholm-Arlanda	B
Olympic Air	Bucharest-Otopeni, Cairo, Istanbul-Atatürk, Larnaca, London-Heathrow, Sofia, Tirana	A
Olympic Air	Alexandroupolis, Amsterdam, Astypalaia, Brussels, Chania, Chios, Heraklion, Ikaria, Ioannina, Kalymnos, Karpathos, Kavala, Kefalonia, Kos, Kythira, Lemnos, Leros, Milos, Mykonos, Mytilene, Naxos, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Paros, Rhodes, Samos, Santorini, Skiathos, Syros, Thessaloniki, Vienna, Zakynthos	B
Pegasus Airlines	Izmir	A
Qatar Airways	Doha	A
Royal Jordanian	Amman-Queen Alia	A
Scandinavian Airlines	Copenhagen Seasonal: Stockholm-Arlanda	B
Singapore Airlines	Singapore	A
Sky Express	Heraklion, Sitia, Skyros Seasonal: Kastoria, Kozani	B
Sun d'Or International Airlines	Seasonal: Tel Aviv	A
Swiss International Air Lines	Geneva, Zürich	B
Syrian Air	Aleppo, Damascus	A
TAP Portugal	Lisbon [begins 27 March]	B
TAROM	Bucharest-Otopeni	A
Thai Airways International	Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi	A
Transaero Airlines	St Petersburg	A
Transavia.com	Amsterdam [begins 13 April]	B
Turkish Airlines	Istanbul-Atatürk	A
Tunisair	Tunis	A
US Airways	Seasonal: Philadelphia	A
Uzbekistan Airways	Tashkent	A
Viking Hellas	Arbil, Baghdad, Manchester, Najaf, Sulaymaniyah	A
Vueling Airlines	Barcelona	B

Cargo Airlines

Airlines	Destinations	Terminal
Airgo Airlines	Domestic cargo	Cargo
DHL	Leipzig/Halle	Cargo
FedEx Express	Frankfurt, Newark, Memphis	Cargo
FedEx Feeder operated by Air Contractors	Dublin	Cargo
Lufthansa Cargo	Frankfurt	Cargo
Royal Jordanian Cargo	Amman, Cologne	Cargo
Star Air	Copenhagen	Cargo
TNT Airways	Liège, Milan-Orio al Serio	Cargo
UPS Airlines	Ljubljana, New York-JFK, Paris-Charles de Gaulle	Cargo

Robotic Security
The airport is equipped with two robotic systems (robots "Hercules" and "Ulysses") capable of handling suspect devices. They are designed to protect the lives of individuals as well as airport spaces by safely identifying and removing explosives.Hercules was donated by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. It is a system capable of the safe collection and transportation of explosives for disposal. It is equipped with a spherical shaped tank with a diameter of 120 cm, and two robotic folding arms. Ulysses is a system worth €94,000, donated by Soukos Robots ABEE. This system was manufactured in order to serve as a supplement to Hercules. It can access more difficult areas than Hercules such as toilets, buses or aircraft. It is a light but highly efficient robot, equipped with a shock-absorbing system allowing movements on rough surfaces.