Plans for expanding the already under-construction new Heraklion Airport in Crete

The Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport is proceeding with the expansion of the new airport in Kasteli. This was announced a few days ago by the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Kostas Karamanlis, at the annual SETE conference on the “National Strategy for Tourism 2030”.

As he mentioned, in a short time there will be legislative regulation for the expansion of the airport, for as it is predicted, with the growth rate of Greek tourism and with VOAK, this airport in 10-15 years will be “small” for the tourism development of Crete.

One of the most important points that will be there will be the increase of the airport terminal space. According to the current concession agreement, the Airport is planned to have an area of 72,000 sq.m. The relevant official announcements are expected in the next period. The upgrade of the airport arises both as an alignment with the new conditions and regulations while the pandemic intervened which changed air transport.

But the most important thing is that the forecasts for tourism in the coming years are such that they create additional needs in the passenger traffic that the new airport will shoulder at levels of a decade or more.

We should mention that even today Heraklion airport is the second largest in the country, especially in the summer months. According to CAA data, in the first ten months Heraklion airport served more than 7.7 million passengers. The legislative regulation being prepared by the Ministry of Infrasructure, will obviously come to cover the further momentum acquired by the main airport of Crete.

A big development project

The new International Airport in Kasteli is currently the largest development project on the island of Crete. Together with VOAK, it is estimated that they will transform and upgrade the transport infrastructure. The project was undertaken by the GEK TERNA-GMR scheme in February 2018, while a year later the start of the construction period was formalized.

The planning envisages the creation of the new airport on an area of 6,000 acres, with a runway length of 3.2 km and the possibility of extending it to 3.8 km. At the same time, it will be connected via an 18 km road axis with VOAK, while by road it is approximately 25 minutes from Heraklion.

The participation of the Greek State in the Airport Company amounts to 45.90%, GEK TERNA will have a 32.46% share and GMR will hold a 21.64% share. The construction cost will amount to 480 million euros and it is implemented by TERNA. It is one of the 10 largest projects under construction in the country.

At the same time, the airport in Kasteli will be the only airport that is expected to be built in S.E. Mediterranean in the next twenty years. Thus, can become an important regional hub between Asia, Europe and Africa.

The project in detail

In more detail, the construction for the new Airport in Kasteli is a concession project with a duration of 35 years. Its construction includes:

1 Runway 3,200 m long, category ICAO 4E

1 parallel aircraft taxiway of equal length

8 connecting taxiways of the runway with the parallel taxiway

2 connecting taxiways with the runway of the Military Airport

Apron for 27 ICAO category C remote aircraft parking spaces & 5+1 ICAO category E MARS type spaces (or 10+2 fixed category C parking spaces)

1 Airport Terminal Building (Terminal Building) of 5 levels with a total area of 72,000 sq.m. of which about 13,000 sq.m. areas for commercial uses and approximately 1,000 sq.m. permanent exhibition spaces

11 Buildings/Facilities required for airport operation: Control Tower, Fire Department, Police, Airport Maintenance, Ground Handling Company Facility, Power Center, 150kV Substation, Water Tanks, Biological Treatment Facility, Fuel Storage and Aircraft Refueling Facility via Underground Hydrant System, Waste Collection Facility of the airport, Parking spaces for at least 800 vehicles, waiting areas for 50 tourist buses, 150 taxis and 20 minivans.

Ability to serve the needs of the complete disposal of municipal waste from the settlements of Thrapsanos, Archangelos, Galeliano, Sklaverochori, Evangelismos, Lilianos, Agia Paraskevi, Roussochori at the Airport’s Biological Cleaning Facility, parking and service areas for vehicles (cars, taxis, city-commercial buses).