Heraklion airport “Nikos Kazantzakis” or Heraklion International airport, is the second busiest airport in Greece. It took its name from the famous author Nikos Kazantzakis and is 4km from the center of the city at Alikarnassos.
By the beginning of the tourist season in 2015 a new airport should be ready at a new site -Kastelli. The cost of the project will reach 1 billion euros and will be funded on a concession basis for a period of 35 years.
The new airport is expected to cater 5 to 10 million passengers per year replacing the “Nikos Kazantzakis” airport at Heraklion which will cease operations upon the inauguration of the new one at Kastelli.
Heraklion Airport History
Many centuries have passed since the days of Ikarus, the winged flyer, when in 1937 at a distance of 10km east of the Knossos palace the myth materializes in that the construction of Heraklion airport is complete as the first small planes begin to land. The site was flat agricultural land, when in the summer of 1939 the first aeroplane a Junkers-52, capacity 14 persons carried its first passengers.
In the autumn of 1946 after the end of World War II air traffic is resumed with the introduction of the DC-3 type of aircraft.
The airport initially offered primitive installations to service the planes and passengers. There were 3 tents- one used by the administration , the second used by the airline companies and third housed the passenger hall. Storm lamps were used for lighting the runway. For the determination of wind direction required by the landing craft, smoke was used.This came from burning dry grass. In 1947 a small building was constructed, housing the service activities and the passenger hall. In 1948 “Hellas” inaugurated its flights. A total of 4.000 passengers were served. In 1953
Runway 09-27 with an initial length of 1850m was constructed. In 1954 for the first time a DC-4 (four engined) landed, with a capacity of 64 passengers belonging to the TAE airline company. This type of aircraft contributed to a turnover of 18.000 passengers served in that year. After 1957 the new “Olympic Airways”company used the DC-6 aircraft type, capacity 95 passengers resulting in the continued increase of turnover between Heraklion-Athens.
Todays Heraklion airport operates from new buildings since 1971 but the story does not end here.
Statistics of the runway- take offs and landings:
1939 First passenger landing at the runway 13-31
1941 Cut off of civil aviation operations
1946 Resumption of passenger flights
1953 Completion of new runway, initial length 1.850m
1968-1971 Extension of runway from1.850m to 2.680m
1971 First charter flight from abroad (British Airways 18-03-71)
2001-2003 Construction of part of parallel (service) road
History of installations:
1947 First passenger air terminal
1968 Start of construction of new airport
1972 Completion of new airport and inauguration-7.370m2 (21/5/72)
1973-75 Construction of airplane hangers and service roads
1988 Inauguration of new Foreign Departure and Arrival lounges- 900m2
1992 Completion of new Foreign Arrivals lounge
1994 Operation of new Foreign Departures lounge 2.000m2
1996 Completion of airport extension by 11.700m2
1997 Operation of new Foreign Departures lounge 5000m2
2005 Completion of airport extension by 18.985m2
