Athens International Airport, "Eleftherios Venizelos

Athens International Airport, "Eleftherios Venizelos"
IATA: ATH - ICAO: LGAV
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator
Serves		Athens
Elevation AMSL		308 ft (94 m)
Coordinates		37°56′10.89″N, 23°56′40.08″E
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	ft	m
03R/21L	13,123	4,000	Asphalt
03L/21R	12,467	3,800	Asphalt

Athens International Airport, "Eleftherios Venizelos" (Greek: Διεθνής Αερολιμένας Αθηνών, "Ελευθέριος Βενιζέλος") or Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport (IATA: ATH, ICAO: LGAV) began operation in March 2001, serves the city of Athens in Greece. It is located between the towns of Markopoulo, Koropi, Spata and Loutsa, about 20 km east of Athens city centre (30 km by road, due to intervening hills). The airport is named after Eleftherios Venizelos, the Cretan politician and Prime Minister of Greece, who was prominent in the Cretan rising against the Ottoman occupation of Crete in 1896.

The runways are approximately 4 kilometres in length. The Airport was developed by public-private partnership. Greece holds 55% of the shares. It is considered one of the most expensive airports in Europe since its restaurants and cafes have to pay a very high rent. The Airport was honoured with the title of "European Airport of the Year 2004", within the framework of the annual Institute of Transport Management (ITM) Awards, for its innovative entrepreneurial scheme and the airport's successful operation and achievements.

In 2005, the airport served 14.3M passengers, 4.5% more than in 2004.

A rail station immediately adjacent to the airport terminal (and accessible by an elevated walkway) was completed in time for the 2004 Olympics. The station is served by line 3 of the Athens Metro and by the Proastiakos suburban train service. The airport is also accessible by Attiki Odos Motorway.

Robotic security

The new airport is equipped with two robotic systems (robots "Hercules" and "Ulysses") capable of handling suspect devices, designed to protect the lives of individuals as well as airport spaces, by safely identifying and removing explosives.

Hercules was donated by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation to the airport. It is a system worth approximately €170,000, manufactured by Soukos Robots ABEE. Hercules is capable of the safe collection and transportation of explosives for disposal. It is equipped with a spherical shaped tank with a diameter of 120 cm, and two robotic folding arms.

Ulysses is a system worth €94,000, donated by Soukos Robots ABEE. This system was manufactured in order to serve as a supplement to Hercules, allowing entrance in difficult access areas such as toilets, buses or aircraft. It is a light but highly efficient robot, equipped with a shock-absorbing system allowing movements on rough surfaces.

Venizelos Airport , Photo: Christos Vittoratos

Airlines

• Ada-Air
  
• Aegean Airlines (Alexandroupolis, Chania, Chios, Corfu, Frankfurt, Ioannina, Munich, Mytilene, Stuttgart, Heraklion, Kavala, Kos, Larnaca, Dusseldorf, Milan-Malpensa, Munich, Mykonos, Rhodes, Rome-Fiumicino, Santorini, Thessaloniki)
  
• Aeroflot (Moscow-Sheremetyevo)
  
• Aerosvit Airlines (Kiev)
  
• Air Berlin (Berlin-Tegel)
  
• Air France (Paris-Charles de Gaulle)
  
• Air Malta (Luqa)
  
• Air Moldova (Chisinau)
  
• Air Zena Georgian (Tbilisi)
  
• Alitalia (Milan-Malpensa, Rome-Fiumicino)
  
• Alpi Eagles (Venice)
  
• Armenian International
  
• Austrian Airlines (Vienna)
  
• Blue Line (Marseille)
  
• British Airways (London-Heathrow)
  
• CSA Czech Airlines (Prague)
  
• Cyprus Airways (Larnaca)
  
• Delta Air Lines (Atlanta (starting May 29, 2006), New York-JFK)
  
• Donbassaero Airlines
  
• EasyJet (London-Gatwick, London-Luton)
  
• EgyptAir (Cairo)
  
• El Al (Tel Aviv)
  
• Emirates (Dubai)
  
• Excel Airways (London-Gatwick)
  
• Germanwings (Cologne/Bonn)
  
• Gulf Air (Abu Dhabi, Bahrain)
  
• Hapag-Lloyd
  
• Hellas Jet (London-Gatwick)
  
• Hemus Air (Sofia)
  
• Iberia (Barcelona, Madrid)
  
• Iran Air
  
• Jat Airways (Belgrade)
  
• KLM (Amsterdam)
  
• Kuwait Airways (Dubai, Kuwait City)
  
• LOT Polish (Warsaw)
  
• LTU International (Dusseldorf, Thessaloniki)
  
• Lufthansa (Frankfurt, Munich)
  
• Luxair (Luxembourg)
  
• Maersk Air (Copenhagen)
  
• MALÉV Hungarian Airlines (Budapest)
  
• Middle East Airlines Liban (Beirut)
  
• Olympic Airlines (Alexandria, Alexandroupolis, Amsterdam, Astypalaia, Beirut, Belgrade, Berlin-Tegel, Brussels, Bucharest, Cairo, Corfu/Kerkyra, Chania, Chios, Dubai, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Geneva, Heraklion, Ikaria, Ioannina, Istanbul, Johannesburg, Karpathos, Kasos, Kastelorizo, Kastoria, Kavala, Kefalonia, Kithira, Kos, Kozani, Kuwait, Larnaca, Leros, Limnos, London-Gatwick, London-Heathrow, Madrid, Milan-Linate, Milan-Malpensa, Milos, Montréal, Moscow-Sheremetyevo, Munich, Mykonos, Mytilene, Naxos, New York-JFK, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Paros, Preveza, Rhodes, Rome-Fiumicino, Samos, Santorini, Sitia, Skiathos, Skyros, Sofia, Stuttgart, Syros, Tel Aviv, Thessaloniki, Tirana, Toronto, Vienna, Zakynthos)
  
• Pulkovo Aviation (St. Petersburg)
  
• Qatar Airways (Doha)
  
• Royal Jordanian (Amman)
  
• SAS (Copenhagen)
  
• Saudi Arabian Airlines (Jeddah)
  
• Singapore Airlines (Singapore)
  
• Skyeurope Airlines
  
• Swiss International Airlines (Geneva, Zurich)
  
• Syrian Arab Airlines (Damascus)
  
• TAROM (Bucharest)
  
• Thai Airways International (Bangkok)
  
• Turkish Airlines (Istanbul)
  
• Tunisair (Istanbul, Tunis)
  
• Uzbekistan Airlines (Tashkent)
  
• Viking Airlines (Metz-Nancy, Strasbourg)
  
• Virgin Express (Brussels)
  
• Wizzair (Budapest, Katowice)
  

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