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Airport Athens (Greece) - Eleftherios Venizelos

Athens International Airport
"Elefthérios Venizélos"

" "
Logo of Athens Airport
Aerial photo of AIA
IATA: ATH ICAO: LGAV
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner Greek Government
Operator Athens International Airport S.A
Serves Athens, Greece
Location Spata, Greece
Hub for Olympic Air
Aegean Airlines
Athens Airways
Elevation AMSL 308 ft / 94 m
Coordinates 37°5611N 23°5640E / 37.93639°N 23.94444°E / 37.93639; 23.94444Coordinates: 37°5611N 23°5640E / 37.93639°N 23.94444°E / 37.93639; 23.94444
Website www.aia.gr
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
03R/21L 13,123 4,000 Asphalt
03L/21R 12,467 3,800 Asphalt
Statistics (2008)
Passengers 16,466,491
Aircraft operations 199,418
Cargo 122,195,965 kg (120,266 LT; 134,698 ST)
Sources: Passengers[1] Flights[2] Cargo[3]

Athens International Airport (Greek: , Diethnís Aeroliménas Athinón) known as "Elefthérios Venizélos", ) (IATA: ATH, ICAO: LGAV), which began operation on 29 March 2001, is the civilian airport that serves the city of Athens and the region of Attica. The airport is the major hub and base for Olympic Air, as well as for Aegean Airlines. The airport serves more than 16 million travellers annually and was named after the distinguished Greek statesman Eleftherios Venizelos. The airport has become increasingly popular as a gateway to Asia and the Middle East. It is also known for its continuous investment in pioneering technology, and is Airbus A380 ready, having been certified by the European Aviation Safety Agency and the Federal Aviation Administration.[4]

Contents

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 frist 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. 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 allows the airport to accommodate 16 million passengers a year; the sixth phase will allow the airport to accommodate as many as 50 million passengers a year. In 2008, the airport handled 16.466.479 passengers, -0.4% than in 2007.[1]

It is also an airport that has received approval from the European Aviation Safety Agency[4] and the Federal Aviation Administration[4] for take-offs and landings of the biggest passenger jet worldwide, the Airbus A380.[4]

It is also among the busiest 30 European airports.

In 2005 and 2006, the Airport was awarded the Skytrax award for best airport in Southern Europe.

Terminals

Athens International Airport has two terminal buildings, the Main Terminal and the Satellite Terminal. All check-in desks are located in the Main Terminal, and the Satellite terminal is easily accessible through an underground link complete with moving walkways.

Main Terminal

The Main Terminal Building handles the all intra-Schengen flights, as well as several non-Schengen flights. 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 has two levels, one for arrivals and the other for departures.

Airlines and destinations

Airlines Destinations
Adria Airways Ljubljana
Aegean Airlines Alexandroupolis, Barcelona, Belgrade, Berlin-Tegel, Brussels, Bucharest-Henri Coand, Cairo, Chania, Chios, Corfu, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Heraklion, Ioannina, Istanbul-Atatürk, Kavala, Kefalonia, Kos, Larnaca, Lemnos, London-Heathrow, Madrid, Milan-Malpensa, Munich, Mykonos, Mytilene, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Rhodes, Rome-Fiumicino, Samos, Santorini, Sofia, Stuttgart, Tel Aviv, Thessaloniki, Tirana, Venice-Marco Polo [seasonal], Vienna
Aer Lingus Dublin [seasonal]
Aeroflot Moscow-Sheremetyevo
Aerosvit Airlines Kiev-Boryspil, Odessa
Air Arabia Sharjah
AirBaltic Riga [seasonal]
Air Canada Montréal-Trudeau [seasonal; begins 4 June], Toronto-Pearson [seasonal; begins 5 June] [5]
Air France Paris-Charles de Gaulle
Air Malta Malta
Air Méditerranée Paris-Charles de Gaulle [seasonal]
Air Moldova Chiinu
Air Transat Montréal-Trudeau [seasonal], Toronto-Pearson [seasonal], Vancouver [seasonal; begins 19 June]
Alitalia Naples, Milan-Malpensa, Rome-Fiumicino
Armavia Yerevan
Athens Airways Alexandroupolis, Chania, Chios, Corfu, Heraklion, Ikaria, Karpathos, Kastoria, Kavala, Kefalonia, Kithira, Mytilene, Preveza, Rhodes, Samos, Santorini, Sitia, Skiathos, Thessaloniki, Zakynthos
Austrian Airlines Vienna
Austrian operated by Tyrolean Airways Vienna [seasonal]
Baboo Geneva, Nice
Blue1 Helsinki
British Airways London-Heathrow
Brussels Airlines Brussels
Bulgaria Air Sofia
Carpatair Timioara
Cimber Sterling Copenhagen
City Airline Gothenburg-Landvetter [begins 24 April]
Continental Airlines Newark
Croatia Airlines Zagreb [begins 29 April]
Cyprus Airways Larnaca, Paphos
Czech Airlines Prague
Delta Air Lines Atlanta [seasonal], New YorkJFK
Donbassaero Donetsk
EasyJet Berlin-Schönefeld, London-Gatwick, London-Luton, Manchester, Milan-Malpensa, Paris-Orly, Rome-Fiumicino
EgyptAir Cairo
El Al Tel Aviv
Emirates Dubai
Estonian Air Tallinn[Begins July 5]
Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi
Georgian Airways Tbilisi
Germanwings Cologne/Bonn, Stuttgart
Gulf Air Bahrain
Hellenic Imperial Airways Casablanca
Iberia Madrid
Jat Airways Belgrade
KLM Amsterdam
Libyan Airlines Tripoli
LOT Polish Airlines Kraków, Warsaw
Lufthansa Frankfurt, Munich
Malév Hungarian Airlines Budapest
Middle East Airlines Beirut
Norwegian Air Shuttle Oslo-Rygge
Olympic Air Abu Dhabi[begins March 28], Alexandroupolis, Alexandria, Amsterdam, Astypalaia, Beirut, Brussels, Bucharest-Henri Coand, Cairo, Chania, Chios, Corfu, Heraklion, Ioannina, Istanbul-Atatürk, Kalymnos, Kasos, Kastelorizo, Kavala, Kefalonia, Kos, Larnaca, Lemnos, Leros, London-Gatwick, London-Heathrow, Milan-Malpensa, Milos, Moscow-Sheremetyevo[Begins March 28], Mykonos, Mytilene, Naxos, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Paros, Preveza, Rhodes, Rome-Fiumicino, Samos, Santorini, Sitia, Sofia, Syros, Thessaloniki, Tirana, Vienna, Zakynthos
Pegasus Airlines Izmir
Qatar Airways Doha
Royal Jordanian Amman
Saudi Arabian Airlines Jeddah, Riyadh [seasonal]
Scandinavian Airlines System Copenhagen, Stockholm-Arlanda
Singapore Airlines Singapore
Sky Express (Greece) Sitia, Skyros
SunExpress Izmir
Swiss International Air Lines Geneva, Zürich
Syrian Air Aleppo, Damascus
TAROM Bucharest-Henri Coand
Thai Airways International Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi
Transavia.com Copenhagen
Turkish Airlines Istanbul-Atatürk
Tunisair Tunis
US Airways Philadelphia [seasonal]
Uzbekistan Airways Tashkent
Viking Airlines Stockholm-Arlanda
Viking Hellas Baghdad [begins 1 February], Erbil [begins 6 February], Manchester [begins 2 February], Sulaymaniyah [begins 3 February]
Vueling Airlines Barcelona
Cargo airlines
Airlines Destinations
DHL Leipzig/Halle
Star Air Copenhagen
TNT Airways Liège, Milan-Orio al Serio
UPS Airlines Ljubljana, Paris, USA

Ground transport

Road

The airport is accessible by the Attiki Odos toll highway.

Taxi

Taxis are available at the airport.

Rail

A rail station immediately adjacent to the airport terminal (and accessible by an elevated walkway) was completed in time for the 2004 Olympics. The station is served by the Proastiakos suburban train service and the metro.

Bus

Six bus lines (X92, X93, X94, X95, X96, X97) which serve many parts of Athens, such as Piraeus and the terminal bus stations Kiffisos and Liosion are available 24/7 at the lower level of the terminal.

Awards

Airline lounges

Many airline users of Athens International Airport operate luxurious and modern passenger lounges. First and Business Class passengers of the respective airlines and partner alliances can enjoy lounge facilities at the airport. Airline lounges at the airport include:

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.

Incidents and accidents

References

  1. ^ a b "Athens International Airport: Passenger Traffic Development 2007" (PDF). Athens International Airport. http://www.aia.gr/UserFiles/File/4/111718_passengers_EN_2007.pdf. Retrieved 2008-02-06. 
  2. ^ "Athens International Airport: Aircraft Movements Development 2007" (PDF). Athens International Airport. http://www.aia.gr/UserFiles/File/4/101950_flights_EN_2007.pdf. Retrieved 2008-02-06. 
  3. ^ "Athens International Airport: Cargo Uplift Development 2007" (PDF). Athens International Airport. http://www.aia.gr/UserFiles/File/trafficStatistics/095720_Cargo_Uplift_2007_En.pdf. Retrieved 2008-02-06. 
  4. ^ a b c d Athens International Airport (2007-10-17). "Athens International Airport: Diversion airport for A380 flight". Press release. http://www.aia.gr/entry.asp?pageid=741&tablepageid=12&langid=2&entryID=207. Retrieved 2008-02-06. "On the occasion of the delivery of the first Airbus A380 for commercial services, Athens International Airport (AIA) announces that Airbus, Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Qantas have identified AIA as an en-route alternate airport for an A380 diversion." 
  5. ^ http://www.cnw.ca/en/releases/archive/August2009/28/c8335.html
  6. ^ "Airport of the Year - Regional Results". Skytrax. www.worldairportawards.com. 2006. http://www.worldairportawards.com/Awards-2006/ResultsFull.htm. Retrieved 2007-08-03. 
  7. ^ "Athens International Airport - GreenBuilding Award for saving energy". Athens International Airport. www.aia.gr. May 8, 2008. http://www.aia.gr/entry.asp?pageid=741&tablepageid=12&langid=2&entryId=232. Retrieved 2008-05-14. 

External links

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