# Heraklion International Airport "Nikos Kazantzakis"

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 km (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), Sisi (Σίσι) Elounda (Ελούντα) and other resorts.
A new airport for Heraklion, located 39 km (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 18 March 1971, the first charter flight from abroad operated to the airport. The new airport itself was officially inaugurated on 5 May 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, Corfu (begins 2 June 2025), Deauville, Frankfurt, Istanbul (begins 2 June 2025), Kalamata, Kos (begins 2 June 2025), Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Metz/Nancy (begins 2 June 2025), Munich, Nantes, Naxos (begins 1 June 2025), Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Rhodes (begins 30 March 2025), Tel Aviv, Tirana, Toulouse, Zurich Seasonal charter: Brașov, Bremen, Budapest, Craiova, Erfurt/Weimar, Friedrichshafen, Iași, Lisbon, Memmingen, Münster/Osnabrück, Oradea, Pristina, Timișoara, Yerevan |
| Aer Lingus | Seasonal: Dublin |
| 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: Brașov (begins 3 June 2025), Bucharest–Otopeni, Cluj-Napoca (begins 14 June 2025), Oradea (begins 3 June 2025) |
| Arkia | Seasonal: Tel Aviv |
| Austrian Airlines | Seasonal: Vienna |
| Avion Express | Seasonal charter: Vilnius |
| Bees Airlines | Seasonal: Bucharest-Otopeni |
| Bluebird Airways | Athens Seasonal: Tel Aviv |
| Braathens International Airways | Seasonal charter: Gothenburg, Stockholm–Arlanda |
| British Airways | Seasonal: London–Gatwick, London–Heathrow |
| Brussels Airlines | Seasonal: Brussels |
| Bulgaria Air | Seasonal: Sofia |
| Buzz | Seasonal charter: Katowice, Wrocław |
| Chair Airlines | Seasonal: Zurich |
| 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, 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, Manchester, Milan–Malpensa, Nantes, Naples, Paris–Charles de Gaulle |
| Edelweiss Air | Seasonal: Zurich |
| Enter Air | Seasonal charter: Warsaw–Chopin |
| European Air Charter | Seasonal charter: Graz, Linz, Varna |
| Eurowings | Seasonal: Berlin, Cologne/Bonn, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Graz (begins 26 May 2025), Hamburg, Nuremberg, Prague, Salzburg, Stuttgart Seasonal charter: Innsbruck |
| Finnair | Seasonal: Helsinki |
| FlyOne | Seasonal: Chișinău |
| FlyOne Armenia | Seasonal: Yerevan (begins 1 June 2025) |
| FLYYO | Seasonal charter: Tel Aviv |
| GetJet Airlines | Seasonal charter: Vilnius |
| Helvetic Airways | Seasonal: Bern, Zurich |
| HiSky | Seasonal charter: Bucharest–Otopeni, Oradea, Timișoara |
| 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–Luton (begins 2 April 2025), 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 |
| Saudia | Seasonal: Jeddah (begins 20 June 2025) |
| 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, Pardubice (begins 4 June 2025), Sibiu, Suceava, Târgu Mureș, Timisoara, Weeze |
| SkyUp | Seasonal: Chișinău (begins 19 April 2025) |
| 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 |
| Sundor | Seasonal: Tel Aviv (resumes 3 April 2025) |
| Swiss International Air Lines | Seasonal: Geneva |
| Trade Air | Seasonal charter: Ljubljana |
| Transavia | Amsterdam Seasonal: Brussels, Eindhoven, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Nantes, Paris–Orly, Rotterdam/The Hague |
| TUI Airways | Seasonal: 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 (ends 30 March 2025) Seasonal: Bari, Bordeaux, Brest (begins 27 April 2025), Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nantes, Naples, Palermo (resumes 8 July 2025), Strasbourg (begins 7 July 2025), Toulouse, Verona |
| Vueling | Seasonal: Barcelona, Rome–Fiumicino |
| Wizz Air | Seasonal: Belgrade, Bucharest–Otopeni, Budapest, Cluj-Napoca (begins 17 June 2025), Gdańsk, Kraków, Milan–Malpensa, Rome–Fiumicino, Sofia, Tel Aviv (resumes 16 June 2025), 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 | 57,473 | 8,723,031 | 7.7 |
| 2024 | 62,723 | 9,384,233 | 7.6 |

## Other facilities

The airline Bluebird Airways has its head office at the airport. Sky Express maintains a lounge at the airport.