Thessaloniki Airport
Thessaloniki Airport, officially Thessaloniki Airport "Makedonia" and formerly Mikra Airport, is an international airport serving Thessaloniki, the second-largest city in Greece. It is located southeast of the city, in Thermi.
The airport is the third-largest airport in the country after Athens International Airport and Heraklion International Airport. It opened in 1930 and was the second-busiest airport in Greece in terms of flights served and the third-busiest in terms of passengers served in 2016, with over 6 million passengers. It is the main airport of Northern Greece and apart from the city of Thessaloniki it also serves the popular tourist destination of Chalkidiki and the surrounding cities of Central Macedonia. The AthensThessaloniki route is the tenth busiest in the EU with 1.8 million passengers. To cope with demand, a second terminal is currently under construction as part of a billion-euro investment by Fraport Greece, the company which operates the airport.
History
The airport was first established as an airfield during the First World War, as part of the allied war effort on the Macedonian front. There were numerous airfields at the time, including, , and the major military airfield of Sedes. The first international flight to Thessaloniki landed at the air field, and government efforts at encouraging the growth of civil aviation saw the start of construction of a purpose-built civilian airport at the present location in 1938. Works were temporarily abandoned due to the Second World War and the airport opened to civilian traffic in 1948.Major works were undertaken after the war. The accession of Greece to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation saw NATO-funded investments such as the expansion of the 10/28 runway to and the inauguration of a new terminal building in 1965. Damage to the tower caused by the 1978 Thessaloniki earthquake meant it needed to be torn down, and a new tower, still in operation, was built. Modernisation works were undertaken in the late 1990s, as part of the celebrations for Thessaloniki being European Capital of Culture in 1997. In 1993 the airport took the name .
The operational aspects of the airport were privatised in 2015. Fraport AG/Copelouzos Group joint venture and the state privatisation fund agreed to the privatisation of the airport operations, and 13 other Greek airports, in December 2015. Fraport Greece will operate the airport for 40 years starting on 11 April 2017. It pledged to invest €400 million on the various airports, including a refurbishment of the existing terminal at Thessaloniki as well as the construction of a second terminal. Construction on the new terminal began on 19 September 2018. Fraport expects passenger traffic to increase by 48% by 2026 as a result of its investment.
Facilities
Terminal
The airport's terminal consists of three floors. The ground floor serves arrivals only and is divided into two sections: international/extra-Schengen arrivals and domestic/intra-Schengen arrivals. The second floor serves departures and also includes a shopping center. On this floor there are 34 check-in counters, waiting areas, bars, stores and various airlines' offices. The third floor houses two restaurants and several bars with views to the runways. There are two passenger lounges. An additional terminal is to be opened in 2021.Runways and apron
The airport has two runways and two taxiways. There are 22 stands for narrow-body aircraft and about 20 for light aircraft.A modernisation and expansion project for runway 10/28 began in 2005, with an initial completion date of 2011, but has since been delayed and was finally completed in March 2019. Modernisation projects on the tarmac and other runway are expected to be completed in 2019. The runway is expected to enter service in the Fall of 2019. Overall, the project took almost a quarter century to build, from inception in 1997, and it has an estimated cost of €179 million. The runway will be extended by 1000 meters into the sea, with a total length of 3440 meters and will be equipped with ILS. When the runway opens for commercial use it will be able to accommodate 89.6% of current commercial aircraft types, as opposed to just 22.6% before the extension, and will improve safety while landing in bad weather conditions and low visibility.
Airlines and destinations
Statistics
Overview
Between 1994 and 2010, Thessaloniki Airport saw a rise in passenger traffic equal to 76%, from 2.2 million in 1994 to 3.9 million in 2010. Between 2003 and 2008 the airport saw a passenger traffic increase of 19.1% from 3.5 million to almost 4.2 million passengers, an all-time high. The number of passengers dropped in next years. However, over the last two years the airport experienced passenger traffic increase to just above four million by 2013. Significant traffic increase took place during 2014, with the total number of passengers exceeding the five million mark for the first time.Annual statistics
| Year | Passenger traffic | Passenger % change | Aircraft movements | Aircraft % change |
| 1994 | 2,227,487 | 29.990 | ||
| 1995 | 2,336,219 | 30.827 | 2.7 | |
| 1996 | 2,499,892 | 33.850 | 9.8 | |
| 1997 | 2,797,166 | 39.766 | 17.4 | |
| 1998 | 2,667,075 | 39.473 | ||
| 1999 | 3,186,721 | 47.589 | ||
| 2000 | 3,548,027 | 49.007 | ||
| 2001 | 3,430,819 | 42.982 | ||
| 2002 | 3,257,436 | 39.550 | ||
| 2003 | 3,500,922 | 48.310 | ||
| 2004 | 3,620,909 | 50.608 | ||
| 2005 | 3,670,581 | 47.186 | ||
| 2006 | 3,802,854 | 47.380 | ||
| 2007 | 4,167,969 | 50.244 | ||
| 2008 | 4,169,559 | 47.882 | ||
| 2009 | 4,104,195 | 50.238 | ||
| 2010 | 3,910,751 | 44,938 | ||
| 2011 | 3,958,475 | 43,430 | ||
| 2012 | 4,006,204 | 43,006 | ||
| 2013 | 4,039,576 | 39,500 | ||
| 2014 | 4,950,726 | 45,900 | ||
| 2015 | 5,341,293 | 47,340 | ||
| 2016 | 5,735,581 | 48,710 | ||
| 2017 | 6,247,514 | 54,931 | ||
| 2018 | 6,689,193 | 55,307 | ||
| 2019 | 6,897,057 | 55,738 | ||
| 2020 | 1.041.455 | 10.526 |
Busiest passenger routes by country
The table below shows passenger totals at Thessaloniki International Airport by country destination during 2018.| Rank | Country destination | Passengers | Change % |
| GR | Greece | 2,333,925 | |
| 1 | Germany | 1.488.151 | |
| 2 | Great Britain | 444,284 | |
| 3 | Cyprus | 432,856 | |
| 4 | Russia | 337,676 | |
| 5 | Italy | 235,204 | |
| 6 | The Netherlands | 163.850 | |
| 7 | Turkey | 131,925 | |
| 8 | Israel | 124,232 | |
| 9 | Poland | 118,533 | |
| 10 | Belgium | 111,860 |
Busiest routes
| Rank | Destination | Airport | Monthly one-way capacity 2016 | Airline |
| 1 |  Athens | ATH | 65,298 | Aegean Airlines, Ellinair, Ryanair |
| 2 |  Munich | MUC | 16,678 | Aegean Airlines |
| 3 | Stuttgart | STR | 11,490 | Aegean Airlines, Germanwings |
| 4 | Berlin | SXF | 10,710 | easyJet, Ryanair |
| 5 |  Larnaca | LCA | 9,826 | Aegean Airlines, Blue Air, Cobalt Air, Ellinair |
| 6 | Heraklion | HER | 9,798 | Astra Airlines, Ellinair, Olympic Air |
| 7 |  Istanbul | IST | 9,060 | Turkish Airlines |
| 8 | Paphos | PFO | 8,883 | Ryanair |
| 9 | Düsseldorf | DUS | 8,859 | Aegean Airlines, Eurowings, Astra Airlines |
| 10 | Chania | CHQ | 8,802 | Olympic Air, Ryanair, Aegean Airlines |
| 11 | Frankfurt | FRA | 8,406 | Aegean Airlines, Astra Airlines, Condor, Ellinair |
| 12 |  London | LGW | 8,304 | easyJet, British Airways |
Top airlines
Transport
The airport is directly connected with the city's major road arteries in the southeast, the EO16 and the A25, which connects Thessaloniki with Chalkidiki, via the ΕΟ67. The Thessaloniki Inner Ring Road provides access to the A1/E75 and A2/E90 motorways. A total of 2,285 parking spaces for cars exist at the front of the terminal building. A car rental service is available at the terminal building. In addition, taxi services are available outside the airport terminal building 24 hours a day.Public transport
There are plans to connect the airport with the Thessaloniki Metro network, which is set to open in 2023 after delays. Attiko Metro, the company overseeing the project, has published a map of proposed extensions, and it includes an overground extension of Line 2 towards the airport. This extension is not an immediate concern for the company, however, since the terminus of Line 2,, will be connected with the airport by a 10-minute shuttle bus. Detailed planning of the metro extension toward the airport was initiated in March 2019.In the meantime, the airport is served on a 24-hour basis by bus 01X/01N of the Thessaloniki Urban Transport Organization, which provides bus services between the Thessaloniki Bus Station and Makedonia airport arrivals/departures.
Accidents and incidents
- On 12 August 1997, Olympic Airways Flight 171, a Boeing 727-230 registered as SX-CBI inbound from Athens Ellinikon Airport, touched down late and was steered off the runway to avoid overrunning into the sea. None of the 35 passengers and crew were killed, but the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.
- On 17 December 1997, Aerosvit Flight 241, a Yakovlev Yak-42, operating the route from Odessa, Ukraine to Thessaloniki, lost contact with the airport's air traffic control and during the second attempt the aircraft crashed in the Pierian Mountains, near Mount Olympus. A total of 70 people, passengers and crew, 41 of which were Greeks, were killed.
- On 4 July 2000, HA-LCR, a chartered Malév Flight 262 Tupolev Tu-154 landed on its belly. The crew had forgotten to lower the undercarriage and the plane skidded on the runway. Thanks to the plane's robust construction and the engines' high position, the plane was able to become airborne again as the pilots applied full throttle. It circled while the crew lowered the undercarriage and landed safely. There were no injuries. It was considered uneconomical to repair the aircraft. The aircraft still remains on site, although airline markings have been obscured and it has been heavily depleted of re-usable spares.
- On 15 June 2013, an AMC Airlines Boeing 737-800 on behalf of Astra Airlines Greece, registration SU-BPZ performing flight A2-921 from Novosibirsk to Thessaloniki with 160 passengers, landed on Thessaloniki's runway 16 at about 07:14L but overran the end of the runway by about 110 meters/360 feet and came to a stop with all gear on soft ground. No injuries occurred, the aircraft received minor if any damage.