Araxos Airport ( el, Αεροδρόμιο Αράξου) is the

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

of Patras, the third-largest city in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

. It serves as a combined civilian and military airport and is located near its namesake, the village of

Araxos Araxos ( el, Άραξος, la, Araxus) is a village and a community in the municipal unit of Larissos of the municipality West Achaea in the northwestern part of Achaea, Greece. The community consists of the villages Araxos, Akrotirio Araxos and ...

, Achaea. It is also known as ''

Agamemnon In Greek mythology, Agamemnon (; grc-gre, Ἀγαμέμνων ''Agamémnōn'') was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Greeks during the Trojan War. He was the son, or grandson, of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the ...

Airport'' and primarily is used as an active

air base An air base (sometimes referred to as a military air base, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base) is an aerodrome used as a military base by a military force for the operation ...

for the

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

, with some civilian services to European destinations during the summer months. The airport facilities were very limited until 2007, when the construction of a new 1,477 m² arrivals building was completed. Today the airport terminal covers a total area of 2,300 m².

116th Combat Wing

Araxos was established as a military airport in 1936, but construction of the runway was not completed until 1941, when it also became the site of the first

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...

installation in Greece. The airport has served as the home base of the Hellenic Air Force's 116th Combat Wing (116 Πτέρυγα Μάχης) since May 1969, and of its precursor the 116th Combat Group (116 Σμηναρχία Μάχης) since April 1962. It currently comprises the 336th Bomber Squadron and 335th Squadron. The main aircraft used by both squadrons is F-16 Block 52+ Advanced.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Patras Araxos Airport:

Statistics

Ground transport

Araxos airport is located 45 km west of the city of Patras and 65 km north of Pyrgos. There are bus services from Patras to Araxos.KTEL Achaias Bus services to Araxos airport (in Greek)
/ref> There is no train connection.

References

External links