Tuesday, 03 August 2021

USEFUL INFORMATION

ATHENS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

For those visiting Athens for the first time, the first impressions are surely positive – as opposed to the picture that the old Airport of Elliniko presented during its last years of function. The new airport “Eleftherios Venizelos” of Athens, since the beginning of its operation, is the recipient of architectural remarks only (for its non-Greek character) by those who chose to criticize it.

Of course, this is not enough to alter the reality that proves Athens has a state-of-the-art, well organized and absolutely functional airport – which in 2011, completed ten years of operation. With over 600 departures and arrivals of aircrafts daily, El. Venizelos was voted by passengers in an official survey conducted by I.A.T.A., as the second in Europe (after Vantaa of Helsinki) and third in the world (after Dubai) in 2001. During the same survey in 2010, El. Venizelos was voted as "Airport of the Year 2010"!

In a very peculiar way, the airport’s construction began in 1978 and until 1982, only 35% of the landscaping was completed. During 1982, it was decided that the Elliniko Airport was suited to serve the future traffic of Athens and the surrounding cities. Between 1992 and 1993, an international bid was declared by the Greek Government. But the political changes postponed, for a second time, the signing of the contract – though the winner of the bid was announced in the summer of 1993. At last, in 1995 the contract was validated and the following year construction works began that were completed five years later, in 2001. During the first year of its operation (April - December 2001), El. Venizelos served 10.189.904 passengers of domestic and foreign flights. During its first full year of operation in 2002, it served 11.827.493 passengers.

In 2003, 12.252.394 passengers were served, and according to the data for 2004 the Airport 13.662.332 passengers, 11.5% more than the previous year. Τhere was a 4,5% increase of traffic in 2005 (14.281.020 passengers), whilst until September 2006 there was an increase of 4,2%, with 11.693.652 passengers for the first nine months of the year. During 2010 the airport serviced close to equal amounts of flyer totaling around 15.1 million.