Kasteli Airport is a military airport located south-east of

Heraklion Heraklion or Iraklion ( ; el, Ηράκλειο, , ) is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in Greece with a population of 211,370 (Urban A ...

, in

Kasteli Kastelli ( el, Καστέλλι, ''Kastélli''; also Καστέλι, ''Kastéli''), often called Kastelli Pediadas (Greek: Καστέλλι Πεδιάδας) to differentiate it from Kissamos (also occasionally called Kastelli-Kissamos) is a villa ...

on the Greek island of

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

. It started operating in 1940 and it now has a single runway with a length of . The airport is used by

F-16 Fighting Falcon The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful ...

fighter aircraft of the

Hellenic Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = 8 November , equipment = , equipment_label ...

's 133 Combat Group. The Ariadne Airport Group consortium, consisting of the

GEK Terna GEK Terna Holding Real Estate Construction ( el, ΓΕΚ ΤΕΡΝΑ) is a large Greek conglomerate which is listed on the Athens Exchange. Its construction branch Terna is one of the leading enterprises of its sector in Greece. GEK Terna's el ...

in partnership with the Indian

GMR Group GMR Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in New Delhi. The group was founded in 1978 by Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao (G M Rao) and comprises several companies including GMR Infrastructure, GMR Energy, GMR Airports, GMR Ent ...

has been selected to develop, operate and manage a new international airport on this site as a replacement for the existing

Heraklion International Airport Heraklion International Airport "Nikos Kazantzakis" is the primary airport on the island of Crete, Greece, and the country's second busiest airport after Athens International Airport. It is located about 5 km east of the main city centre ...

. The new Kasteli International Airport is due to open by 2025.

Airport expansion

It is planned that the new airport will be situated on the southwestern side of Kasteli Hellenic Air Force Base, from which the air force currently operates

jet fighters. The idea was first proposed in 1986 by then-Prime Minister

Andreas Papandreou Andreas Georgiou Papandreou ( el, Ανδρέας Γεωργίου Παπανδρέου, ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek economist, politician and a dominant figure in Greek politics, known for founding the political party PASOK, wh ...

. The project has officially entered the implementation phase, and tenders have been invited. The new airport was planned to become operational in 2014. The existing airport at Heraklion will be closed and an area of there will be returned to local communities for a large urban regeneration plan. The creation of the new airport will require new road, water and sanitation works, as well as the transfer of settlements located within the proposed runway zone (Archangelos, Roussochoria). The construction of a road will connect the airport with Motorway 90 (A90) along the north coast of Crete, in the neighbourhood of

Chersonissos Hersonissos ( el, Χερσόνησος, meaning "peninsula", ''Chersónisos'', ), also transliterated as ''Chersonissos'' and ''Hersónisos'', is a town and a local government unit in the north of Crete, bordering the Mediterranean / Aegean Sea. T ...

. When finished, the distance from the city of

to the new airport will be approximately . Complaints have been filed for lack of a new road linking the new airport to the south coast of Crete. The new airport will be constructed over an area of , adjacent to the current military airport in

. It will have a runway long to accommodate larger aircraft than can presently be operated into Heraklion airport. An additional area of 22 hectares (54 acres) is reserved for commercial activity south-west of the new airport. This is a very large project with a budget of €1.2 billion for construction costs alone, and together with purchase costs including loans and other expenses, will reach €1.5 billion. Initially, four candidates had appeared for the Kasteli airport construction and management project, from Greece, China, France and Spain. * China State Construction Engineering Corp. with the firm Archirodon and

Zürich Airport Zürich Airport (), french: Aéroport de Zurich, it, Aeroporto di Zurigo, rm, Eroport da Turitg is the largest international airport of Switzerland and the principal hub of Swiss International Air Lines. It serves Zürich, Switzerland's larg ...

. * Aktor is in a second consortium with France-based Vinci. * J&P Avax teamed up with

Bouygues Bouygues S.A. () is a French industrial group headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Bouygues is listed on the Euronext, Euronext Paris exchange and is a blue chip (stock market), blue chip in the C ...

and Aéroports de Paris. *

in partnership, initially, with the Spanish

Grupo ACS ACS, Actividades de Construcción y Servicios, S.A. () is a Spanish company dedicated to civil and engineering construction, all types services and telecommunications. It is one of the leading construction companies in the world, with projects i ...

and later with Indian GMR Airports. However, the Ariadne Airport Group consortium was declared the provisional winner of the international tender in May 2017. Ariadne is a joint venture formed by Greece-based Terna and New Delhi-headquartered GMR Airports. According to the Greek Secretary General of the

Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure. See also * Public works * Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tang ...

, Mr. Giorgos Dedes, €10 million have been approved for expropriations and the contract for the airport has been approved by the

Court of Auditors The European Court of Auditors (ECA; French: ''Cour des comptes européenne'') is one of the seven institutions of the European Union (EU). It was established in 1975 in Luxembourg in order to improve EU financial management. It has 27 members ( ...

, so that infrastructure works can begin in January 2019, even if there are great concerns about the environmental pollution from airplane fumes to the underground water deposits that provide water to 1/4 of the city of Heraklion. On February 21, 2019, the

signed a concession allowing the Greek-Indian Ariadne Airport Group consortium to build the airport. The concession needs clearance from

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

and competition authorities before construction begins. In May 2019, the

approved by a wide majority the necessary legislation, ratifying the concessions contract.

Construction

The construction phase of the airport commenced in February 2020 after

Greek Prime Minister The prime minister of the Hellenic Republic ( el, Πρωθυπουργός της Ελληνικής Δημοκρατίας, Prothypourgós tis Ellinikís Dimokratías), colloquially referred to as the prime minister of Greece ( el, Πρωθυ� ...

Kyriakos Mitsotakis Kyriakos Mitsotakis ( el, Κυριάκος Μητσοτάκης, ; born 4 March 1968) is a Greek politician serving as the prime minister of Greece since 8 July 2019. A member of the New Democracy (Greece), New Democracy, he has been its presi ...

laid the foundation stone. Under the concession agreement, the construction of the airport is set to last a total of 60 months (i.e., 5 years) until 2025.

References

{{authority control Airports in Greece Buildings and structures in Heraklion (regional unit) 1940 establishments in Greece Hellenic Air Force bases Airports established in 1940 Airports in Crete