Athens International Airport

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
For the airport in Athens, Georgia, United States, see Athens-Ben Epps Airport.
Athens International Airport
"Elefthérios Venizélos"
Διεθνές Αεροδρόμιο Ελευθέριος Βενιζέλος
"Ελευθέριος Βενιζέλος"
IATA: ATH - ICAO: LGAV
Summary
Airport type Public
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, "Elefthérios Venizélos" (Greek: Διεθνής Αερολιμένας Αθηνών, "Ελευθέριος Βενιζέλος") (IATA: ATH, ICAO: LGAV), which began operation in March 2001, serves Athens.

It is located between the towns of Markopoulo, Koropi, Spata and Loutsa, about 20 km to the east of central Athens (30 km by road, due to intervening hills). The airport is named after Elefthérios Venizélos, the prominent Cretan political figure and Prime Minister of Greece, who had an outstanding contribution 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 as one of the most expensive airports in Europe, with its restaurants and cafes paying very high rents, as well as airline companies having to pay very high landing fees. 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.

The airport is designed to be upgraded over the ensuing years in order to accommodate the increase in air travel. The upgades are planned in a 6-phase framework. The first phase (current phase) allows the airport to accommodate 16 million passengers a year. The 6th phase will allow the airport to accommodate as many as 50 million passengers a year.

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 the Attiki Odos highway.

In 2005 and in 2006, the Airport was awarded with the Skytrax award for best Airport in Southern Europe.

The airport has replaced the old Athens (Ellinikon) International Airport.

Contents

[edit] 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.

[edit] Incidents indirectly connected to the Airport

[edit] Airlines

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../a/t/h/Athens_International_Airport_895b.html"