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Athens International Airport, "Eleftherios Venizelos"

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For the airport in Athens, Georgia, United States, see Athens-Ben Epps Airport.
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|- !colspan="4" style="text-align: center; background-color: #4682B4; color: white;" |Runways |- !bgcolor="lightgrey" rowspan="2"|Direction !bgcolor="lightgrey" colspan="2"|Length !bgcolor="lightgrey" rowspan="2"|Surface |- !bgcolor="lightgrey"|ft !bgcolor="lightgrey"|m |- !align="left" valign="top"|03R/21L |valign="top" align="right"|13,123 |valign="top" align="right"|4,000 |valign="top"|Asphalt |- !align="left" valign="top"|03L/21R |valign="top" align="right"|12,467 |valign="top" align="right"|3,800 |valign="top"|Asphalt

Athens International Airport, "Elefthérios Venizélos" (Greek: Διεθνής Αερολιμένας Αθηνών, "Ελευθέριος Βενιζέλος") or Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport , which 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 Elefthérios Venizélos, the Cretan politician and Prime Minister of Greece, who was prominent in the Cretan rising against the Ottoman occupation of Crete in 1896 and is considered as one of the most prominent politicians in modern Greece.

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.

The airport had replaced Athens (Ellinikon) International Airport.

Contents

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.

Incidents connected to the Airport

Airlines

External links

 

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