Chania International Airport

Chania International Airport "Daskalogiannis" (IATA: CHQ, ICAO: LGSA) is an international airport located near Souda Bay on the Akrotiri peninsula of the Greek island of Crete, serving the city of Chania, 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) away. It is a gateway to western Crete for an increasing number of tourists. The airport is named after Daskalogiannis, a Cretan rebel against Ottoman rule in the 18th century and is a joint civil–military airport. It is the sixth busiest airport in Greece.

Chania International Airport
"Daskalogiannis"

Κρατικός Αερολιμένας Χανίων, "Δασκαλογιάννης"
Summary
Airport typePublic/military
OwnerHellenic Civil Aviation Authority
OperatorFraport Greece
ServesChania, Crete
Focus city for
Elevation AMSL149 m / 490 ft
Coordinates35°31′54″N 024°08′59″E
Websitechq-airport.gr
Map
CHQ
Location in Greece
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
11/29 3,347 10,982 Asphalt
Statistics (2020)
Passengers703.482
Passenger traffic change 76.4%
Aircraft movements7.392
Aircraft movements change 63,9%
Source: Fraport-Greece[1]

History

The focus on civil aviation for the west of Crete has not always been on the current location. It was the airport of Maleme that served civil flights up to 1959, and dating back to the end of Second World War.

Maleme (Military) Airport was constructed by the British Military, shortly before the Second World War. When the war was over, the facility was used as the main public airport of Chania.

In 1959, this activity was transferred to the military airport of Souda. 1967 saw the construction of the first passenger terminal and parking space for two aircraft. In 1974, the airport also began to serve international flights. Because of insufficient capacity, there was the need for a new terminal building. Eventually, in 1996, the new terminal was ready, measuring a surface area of 14,650 square metres (157,700 sq ft), with 6 aircraft stands in front. It has a design capacity of 1.35 million passengers per year. In 2000, it was officially named Ioannis Daskalogiannis.

The airport is also intensively used as a military airfield by the Hellenic Air Force.[2][3]

In December 2015 the privatisation of Chania International Airport and 13 other regional airports of Greece was finalised with the signing of the agreement between the Fraport AG/Copelouzos Group joint venture and the state privatisation fund.[4] "We signed the deal today," the head of Greece's privatisation agency HRADF, Stergios Pitsiorlas, told Reuters.[5] According to the agreement, the joint venture will operate the 14 airports (including Chania International Airport) for 40 years as of 11 April 2017.

In June 2018[6] completed by Fraport Greece, the new aircraft layouts, which are now using push back, for doubling the parking space, the passenger safety area has been expanded, with the increase in hand baggage checkers from 5 to 8 and the Duty Free store space increased from 400 sq.m. at 1,200 sq. meters, the VIP space was moved to increase the boarding gates from 14 to 16 and the dividing walls in the departure halls were removed in order to have a space of 3,000 sq. meters, a new pumping station was built and network (about 3.5 km) and connected to the municipal sewage network, electromechanical installations (new MCCs, new wiring, new luminaires, new electrical panels, etc.) were optimized, the Apron lighting was upgraded, the WC has been renovated, with the purpose of increase the toilets in the Extra Schengen area and the escalator was moved to a new location, in order to manage better the available spaces.

On June 10, 2018, Air Force One carrying U.S. President Donald Trump stopped for refueling in Chania during Trump's flight from the G7 meeting in Quebec to the meeting in Singapore with the leader of North Korea Kim Jong-un.[7]

Fraport Greece's investment plan

On 22 March 2017, Fraport Greece presented its master plan for the 14 Greek regional airports, including Chania International Airport.[8]

Immediate actions that will be implemented at the airports as soon as Fraport Greece takes over operations, before the summer of 2019:

  • General clean-up
  • Improving lighting, marking of airside areas
  • Upgrading sanitary facilities
  • Enhancing services and offering a new free Internet connection (WiFi)
  • Implementing works to improve fire safety in all the areas of the airports
  • Rearranging the terminal's internal utilization
  • Rearranging the departure gate lounge
  • Expanding the security control area
  • HBS (Hold Baggage Screening Systems) inline screening
  • Expanding the waste water treatment plant or connection to municipal service
  • Reorganizing the apron area
  • Refurbishing the airside pavement
  • 25 percent increase in the number of departure gates (from 8 to 10)
  • Doubling the number of security-check lanes (from 4 to 8)

Airlines and destinations
AirlinesDestinations
Aegean Airlines Athens
Seasonal charter: Kalmar, Trondheim, Vaasa
Air Serbia Seasonal charter: Belgrade
Airseven Seasonal charter: Aarhus
Austrian Airlines Seasonal: Vienna
Avion Express Seasonal charter: Helsinki, Oulu
Blue Air Seasonal: Bucharest (begins 23 June 2022)[9] Iași (begins 26 March 2023)[10]
British Airways Seasonal: London–Heathrow
Brussels Airlines Seasonal: Brussels
Buzz Seasonal charter: Katowice
Condor Seasonal: Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich
Corendon Airlines Seasonal: Basel/Mulhouse (begins 3 May 2022),[11] Billund (begins 24 June 2022),[12] Cologne/Bonn (begins 3 May 2022),[11] Copenhagen (begins 24 June 2022),[12] Nuremberg[13]
easyJet Seasonal: Basel/Mulhouse (begins 1 July 2022),[14] Berlin, Geneva, Glasgow (begins 29 June 2022),[15] London–Gatwick, London–Luton, Lyon, Manchester (begins 28 June 2022), Milan–Malpensa, Nice
Edelweiss Air Seasonal: Zurich
Enter Air[16] Seasonal charter: Katowice, Rzeszów
Eurowings Seasonal: Düsseldorf, Hamburg,[17] Stuttgart
Eurowings Discover Seasonal: Frankfurt, Munich (begins 2 July 2022)
Finnair Seasonal: Helsinki
Jet Time Seasonal charter: Helsinki
Jet2.com Seasonal: Birmingham, Bristol (begins 24 May 2023),[18] Leeds/Bradford, London–Stansted, Manchester
Lufthansa Seasonal: Frankfurt, Munich (ends 1 August 2022)
Luxair Seasonal: Luxembourg
Norwegian Air Shuttle Seasonal: Bergen, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo, Stockholm–Arlanda
Novair Seasonal charter: Billund,[19] Gothenburg,[19] Oslo,[19] Stockholm–Arlanda[19]
Olympic Air Thessaloniki
Ryanair Paphos, Thessaloniki
Seasonal: Bari, Bergamo, Berlin, Bologna, Bremen, Bucharest, Budapest, Charleroi, Dublin, East Midlands, Gdańsk, Hahn, Kraków, Leeds/Bradford, London–Stansted, Malta, Manchester, Marseille, Memmingen, Naples, Newcastle upon Tyne, Nuremberg (begins 4 June 2022),[20] Pisa,[21] Poznań (begins 2 June 2022), Rome–Ciampino, Rome–Fiumicino, Sofia, Tel Aviv, Treviso, Turin, Vienna, Warsaw–Modlin, Weeze, Wrocław
Scandinavian Airlines Seasonal: Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm–Arlanda
Seasonal charter: Aalborg,[19] Bergen, Bodø, Haugesund, Kristiansand, Gothenburg, Stavanger, Tromsø, Trondheim, Ålesund, Molde, Harstad
Sky Express Athens
SmartLynx Airlines Seasonal charter: Riga,[22] Tallinn[22]
Smartwings Seasonal: Prague
Seasonal charter: Budapest,[23] Gdańsk, Katowice, Poznań, Warsaw–Chopin
Sunclass AirlinesSeasonal charter: Bergen, Billund, Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Helsinki, Malmö, Oslo, Sandefjord, Stavanger, Stockholm–Arlanda, Trondheim
Swiss International Air Lines Seasonal: Geneva
TAROMSeasonal charter: Bucharest, Cluj Napoca
TransaviaSeasonal: Amsterdam, Paris–Orly
TUI AirwaysSeasonal: Birmingham, London–Gatwick, Manchester
TUI fly BelgiumSeasonal: Brussels, Ostend/Bruges
TUI fly NordicSeasonal charter: Copenhagen, Gothenburg,[24] Helsinki,[25] Norrköping,[26] Oslo,[27] Stockholm–Arlanda
Wizz Air Seasonal: Bari (begins 6 July 2022),[28] Budapest, Cluj-Napoca, London–Gatwick, Sofia, Vienna, Warsaw–Chopin

Traffic figures
Annual passenger traffic at CHQ airport. See source Wikidata query.

The data are from Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)[29] until 2016, and from 2017 and later from the official website of the airport.[30]

Year Passengers
Domestic International Total
1994 204,360 621,986 826,346
1995 220,910 669,516 890,426
1996 244,146 587,106 831,252
1997 301,471 622,689 924,160
1998 292,504 676,687 969,191
1999 414,429 816,045 1,230,474
2000 515,093 901,710 1,416,803
2001 395,864 1,033,118 1,428,982
2002 331,521 1,053,058 1,384,579
2003 413,541 1,066,112 1,479,653
2004 382,224 1,064,153 1,446,377
2005 401,141 1,111,628 1,512,769
2006 437,403 1,323,556 1,760,959
2007 514,318 1,368,516 1,882,834
2008 522,658 1,343,923 1,866,581
2009 575,687 1,219,779 1,795,466
2010 468,279 1,186,585 1,654,864
2011 449,211 1,325,497 1,774,708
2012 397,661 1,435,313 1,832,974
2013 379,280 1,699,577 2,078,857
2014 578,286 1,869,280 2,447,566
2015 827,190 1,875,093 2,702,283
2016 881,031 2,085,666 2,966,697
2017 831,324 2,111,085 3,042,409
2018 646,723 2,361,964 3,008,687
2019 672,945 2,310,597 2,983,542
2020 295.385 408.097 703.482
2021 454,298 1,340,938 1,795,236
2022(Mar) 113,375 12,417 125,792

Traffic statistics by country (2018)
Traffic by country at Chania International Airport – 2018
Place Country Arriving pax Departing pax Total pax
1 Sweden 164,385 164,365 328,750
2 Great Britain 162,160 163,137 325,297
3 Norway 154,429 154,459 308,888
4 Denmark 147,764 151,220 298,984
5 Poland 108,060 107,675 215,735
6 Finland 96,759 97,974 194,733
7 Germany 84,093 84,101 168,194
8 Italy 43,192 42,528 85,720
9 Belgium 36,906 37,209 74,115
10 Cyprus 32,303 31,734 64,037

[31]

Transportation to and from the airport

The airport can be easily reached by car, bus or taxi via the main road network. The city of Chania is about 22 minutes drive away.

See also

References
  1. "CHANIA AIRPORT "I. DASKALOGIANNIS"". Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  2. "History of Maleme - Maleme Airfield - German War Cemetery at Maleme". explorecrete.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  3. "Greek Airports Guide". Archived from the original on 30 May 2012. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  4. "Greece signs privatization of 14 regional airports with Germany's Fraport - TornosNews.gr". Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  5. "Refile-Update 1-Greece signs major privatisation deal with Germany's Fraport". Reuters. 14 December 2015. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  6. "Το HANIA.news στο Αεροδρόμιο Χανίων – Εικόνες & βίντεο από τα έργα και τις αλλαγές".
  7. Herman, Steve. "Trump Admits 'Unknown Territory' Awaits in Kim Summit". VOA. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  8. "Fraport Greece’s Development Plan for the New Era at the Greek Regional Airports", fraport-greece.com
  9. "Exclusiv: Blue Air: Zboruri din București spre Chania, Corfu, Salonic, Santorini și Skiathos". 18 June 2021.
  10. https://boardingpass.ro/blue-air-intentioneaza-sa-opereze-25-de-rute-de-la-iasi-in-2023/
  11. https://www.corendonairlines.com/
  12. "Head to the sun with Corendon Airlines. - Corendon Airlines".
  13. "Flights to Nuremberg". corendonairlines.com. Archived from the original on 25 July 2019. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
  14. https://aviation.direct/basel-easyjet-nimmt-venedig-und-chania-auf
  15. https://twitter.com/seanm1997/status/1514345849320611857?s=21&t=6HdZJjnKwTyy2ym5mhJUew
  16. "Charter flights".
  17. https://www.eurowings.com/en/discover/destinations/new-routes.html
  18. https://www.jet2.com/
  19. "Flight". apollorejser.dk.
  20. "Ryanair Delivers Tourism Recovery at Nuremberg Airport – Ryanair's Corporate Website".
  21. "Ryanair Opens Three New Bases in Greece for Summer '21 – Ryanair's Corporate Website".
  22. https://www.chq-airport.gr/el/flights--more/flights--destinations/destinations/destinations/dest_id-448/nd_id-448 www.chq-airport.gr
  23. "Travel Service Hungary Adds New Routes in S15". Routesonline. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  24. "Only Flight". tui.se.
  25. "Only Flight". tui.fi.
  26. Liu, Jim (3 January 2020). "TUIfly Nordic outlines Norrkoping network in S20". routesonline.com.
  27. "Only Flight". tui.no.
  28. "Wizzair : Altre nuove rotte estive!". 21 December 2021.
  29. "CHANIA AIRPORT "I. DASKALOGIANNIS", ypa.gr
  30. "CHANIA AIRPORT (CHQ) - 2017 vs 2016", chq-airport.gr
  31. https://www.chq-airport.gr/uploads/sys_nodelng/2/2874/CHQ_2018YTD_Int_Traffic_by_Country.pdf

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