Heraklion International Airport "Nikos Kazantzakis" (
IATA:
HER,
ICAO:
LGIR) 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 kilometres (3.1 mi) east of the main city centre of
Heraklion, near the municipality of
Nea Alikarnassos. It is a shared civil/military facility. The airport is named after Heraklion native
Nikos Kazantzakis, a Greek writer and philosopher. Nikos Kazantzakis Airport is Crete's main and busiest airport, serving
Heraklion (Ηράκλειο),
Aghios Nikolaos (Άγιος Νικόλαος),
Malia (Mάλλια),
Hersonissos (Χερσόνησος),
Stalida (Σταλίδα),
Elounda (Ελούντα) and other resorts.
A new airport for Heraklion, located 39 kilometres (24 mi) to the south-east of the city at Kasteli, is under construction and due to open by 2027. Once completed, the new Kasteli International Airport will replace the current Heraklion International Airport as the hub for central Crete, but also providing international links for all of Crete.
History
The airport first opened in March 1939. At that time, this was merely a piece of flat agricultural land. The first aeroplane (a Junkers Ju 52) carried the initial passengers to the site. During the Second World War, the airfield was the site of the Battle of Heraklion during the Battle of Crete, in 1941. Civilian operations ceased; but in the autumn of 1946, traffic resumed, introducing the DC-3 aircraft.
At first, the airport only offered very basic service, with only primitive installations on the site in the form of three tents, smoke for wind determination, and storm lamps for runway lighting.
In 1947, the first (small) terminal was erected. Hellenic Airlines started commercial flights in 1948. At that time, a total of 4,000 people were served. The year 1953 saw the construction of a paved runway which was initially 1,850 meters long and oriented as 09/27. The next major event followed in 1954, when a four-engined DC-4 aircraft landed for the first time at the airport. In that year, the airport handled approximately 18,000 passengers. From 1957 onward, the new Olympic Airways used the airport, starting services with the DC-6 aircraft.
From 1968 until 1971, the runway was extended to 2,680 meters and a new terminal and other facilities were constructed, essentially making it a new airport. On March 18, 1971, the first charter flight from abroad operated to the airport. The new airport itself was officially inaugurated on May 5, 1972.
The airport is scheduled to cease operations in 2027 and to be replaced by the (expanded and renamed) Kasteli Airport.
Terminal extension
The latest airport expansion projects began in October 2017.
The latest extension began in October 2017 and was completed on 30 March 2018, in time for the airport's high season.
Airlines and destinations
The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Heraklion Airport:
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|
| Aegean Airlines | Athens, Thessaloniki
Seasonal: Alexandroupoli, Bordeaux, Brest, Deauville, Frankfurt, Kalamata, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Munich, Nantes, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Tel Aviv, Tirana, Toulouse, Zürich
Seasonal charter: Brașov, Bremen, Budapest, Craiova, Erfurt–Weimar, Friedrichshafen, Iași, Lisbon, Memmingen, Münster/Osnabrück, Oradea, Pristina, Timișoara, Yerevan
|
| Aer Lingus | Seasonal: Dublin
|
| AeroItalia | Seasonal: Bergamo
|
| Air Astana | Seasonal: Almaty, Astana
|
| Air France | Seasonal: Marseille, Nice, Paris–Charles de Gaulle
|
| Air Serbia | Seasonal: Belgrade
|
| airBaltic | Seasonal: Riga, Tallinn, Vilnius
|
| Animawings | Seasonal: Bucharest–Otopeni
|
| Arkia | Seasonal: Tel Aviv
|
| Austrian Airlines | Seasonal: Vienna
|
| Avion Express | Seasonal charter: Vilnius
|
| Bluebird Airways | Athens
Seasonal: Tel Aviv
|
| British Airways | Seasonal: London–Gatwick, London–Heathrow
|
| Brussels Airlines | Seasonal: Brussels
|
| Bulgaria Air | Seasonal: Sofia
|
| Buzz | Seasonal charter: Katowice, Wrocław
|
| Chair Airlines | Seasonal: Zürich
|
| Condor | Seasonal: Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig/Halle, Munich, Nuremberg, Stuttgart, Zürich
|
| Corendon Airlines | Seasonal: Basel/Mulhouse, Berlin, Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Erfurt/Weimar, Graz, Hannover, Linz, Ljubljana London–Gatwick Manchester Munich Nuremberg, Rostock, Stuttgart Vienna, Warsaw–Chopin
|
| Corendon Airlines Europe | Seasonal: Tel Aviv
|
| Corendon Dutch Airlines | Seasonal: Amsterdam, Brussels, Groningen, Maastricht/Aachen
|
| Cyprus Airways | Larnaca
|
| Discover Airlines | Frankfurt
Seasonal: Munich
|
| easyJet | Seasonal: Basel/Mulhouse, Berlin, Birmingham, Bordeaux, Bristol, Edinburgh, Geneva, Liverpool, London–Gatwick, London–Luton, Lyon (begins 30 June 2024), Manchester, Milan–Malpensa, Nantes, Naples, Paris–Charles de Gaulle
|
| Edelweiss Air | Seasonal: Zürich
|
| Enter Air | Seasonal charter: Warsaw–Chopin
|
| European Air Charter | Seasonal charter: Graz, Linz, Varna
|
| Eurowings | Seasonal: Berlin, Cologne/Bonn, Dortmund, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Nuremberg, Prague, Salzburg, Stuttgart
Seasonal charter: Innsbruck
|
| Finnair | Seasonal: Helsinki
|
| FlyOne | Seasonal charter: Chișinău
|
| GetJet Airlines | Seasonal charter: Vilnius
|
| Helvetic Airways | Seasonal: Bern, Zürich
|
| HiSky | Seasonal charter: Bucharest–Otopeni, Oradea, Timișoara,
|
| Iberia Express | Seasonal: Madrid
|
| Iberojet | Seasonal charter: Lisbon
|
| Israir | Seasonal: Tel Aviv
|
| ITA Airways | Seasonal: Milan–Linate, Rome–Fiumicino
|
| Jet2.com | Seasonal: Belfast–International, Birmingham, Bournemouth (begins 6 May 2025), Bristol, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds/Bradford, Liverpool London–Stansted, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne
|
| Leav Aviation | Seasonal: Cologne/Bonn
|
| Lufthansa | Seasonal: Frankfurt, Munich
|
| Luxair | Seasonal: Luxembourg
|
| Marabu | Seasonal: Hamburg, Leipzig/Halle, Munich
|
| Neos | Seasonal: Bergamo, Bologna, Catania, Milan–Malpensa, Rome–Fiumicino, Verona
|
| Nordica | Seasonal charter: Tallinn
|
| Norwegian Air Shuttle | Seasonal: Copenhagen, Oslo
|
| Olympic Air | Seasonal: Rhodes
|
| Ryanair | Thessaloniki
Seasonal: Bergamo, Berlin, Bologna, Catania Charleroi, Milan–Malpensa, Vienna
|
| Scandinavian Airlines | Seasonal: Copenhagen, Oslo
Seasonal charter: Gothenburg
|
| Sky Express | Athens, Kos, Rhodes, Thessaloniki
Seasonal: Brussels, Karpathos, Larnaca Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nantes, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Volos, Zakynthos
Seasonal charter: Amsterdam, Bacău, Belgrade, Bratislava, Bucharest–Otopeni, Cluj-Napoca, Iași, Lisbon, Košice, Oradea, Sibiu, Suceava, Târgu Mureș, Weeze
|
| SmartLynx Airlines | Seasonal charter: Münster/Osnabrück, Tallinn
|
| Smartwings | Seasonal: Bratislava, Brno, Košice, Ostrava, Prague
Seasonal charter: České Budějovice, Gdańsk, Karlovy Vary, Pardubice, Poznań, Warsaw–Chopin
|
| Sunclass Airlines | Seasonal charter: Billund, Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Malmö, Oslo, Stockholm–Arlanda
|
| Sundair | Seasonal: Berlin, Bremen, Dresden, Kassel, Lübeck
|
| Swiss International Air Lines | Seasonal: Geneva
|
| Trade Air | Seasonal charter: Ljubljana
|
| Transavia | Amsterdam
Seasonal: Brussels, Eindhoven, Lyon, Marseille (begins 7 July 2024), Montpellier, Nantes, Paris–Orly, Rotterdam/The Hague
|
| TUI Airways | Seasonal: Belfast–International, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Bristol, Cardiff, Dublin, East Midlands, Exeter, London–Gatwick, London–Stansted, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Norwich
|
| TUI fly Belgium | Seasonal: Antwerp, Brussels, Liège, Ostend/Bruges
|
| TUI fly Deutschland | Seasonal: Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hannover, Munich, Stuttgart
|
| TUI fly Netherlands | Seasonal: Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Rotterdam/The Hague
|
| Tus Airways | Larnaca
Seasonal: Tel Aviv
|
| Volotea | Athens
Seasonal: Bari, Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nantes, Naples, Toulouse, Verona
|
| Vueling | Seasonal: Barcelona, Rome–Fiumicino
|
| Wizz Air | Seasonal: Belgrade, Bucharest–Otopeni, Budapest, Gdańsk, Kraków, Milan–Malpensa, Rome–Fiumicino, Sofia, Warsaw–Chopin
|
Statistics
Traffic figures
Historical annual traffic statistics
| Year |
Flights |
Passengers |
Passengers Change (%)
|
| 2001 |
39,290 |
5,046,726 |
 2.0
|
| 2002 |
36,664 |
4,791,729 |
5.1
|
| 2003 |
39,523 |
4,833,507 |
 0.9
|
| 2004 |
38,170 |
4,712,508 |
2.5
|
| 2005 |
38,266 |
4,932,911 |
4.7
|
| 2006 |
43,740 |
5,345,652 |
8.4
|
| 2007 |
46,012 |
5,438,369 |
1.7
|
| 2008 |
45,280 |
5,437,068 |
0.02
|
| 2009 |
44,842 |
5,052,840 |
7.1
|
| 2010 |
42,396 |
4,907,337 |
2.9
|
| 2011 |
44,520 |
5,292,687 |
7.9
|
| 2012 |
40,856 |
5,076,329 |
4.6
|
| 2013 |
43,544 |
5,792,429 |
14.7
|
| 2014 |
43,637 |
6,024,958 |
5.2
|
| 2015 |
43,970 |
6,057,355 |
0.5
|
| 2016 |
47,804 |
6,742,746 |
11.3
|
| 2017 |
51,114 |
7,336,783 |
8.8
|
| 2018 |
55,680 |
8,098,465 |
10.4
|
| 2019 |
52,294 |
7,933,558 |
2.0
|
| 2020 |
20,876 |
2,398,264 |
69.8
|
| 2021 |
38,628 |
5,046,236 |
112.2
|
| 2022 |
55,549 |
8,099,255 |
60.5
|
| 2023 |
Unknown |
8,723,031 |
7.7
|
Other facilities
The airline Bluebird Airways has its head office at the airport. Sky Express maintains a lounge at the airport.
See also
2.0
0.9