# Rhodes International Airport

Rhodes International Airport "Diagoras" (Greek: Διεθνής Αερολιμένας Ρόδου "Διαγόρας"), or Diagoras International Airport (IATA: RHO, ICAO: LGRP), is located on the West side of the island of Rhodes in Greece. The facility is located just north of the village Paradeisi, about 14 km southwest of the capital city, Rhodes. Rhodes International Airport was the fourth busiest airport in Greece as of 2019, with 5,542,567 passengers utilizing the airport.

## History

Civil aviation on Rhodes started after the Second World War, on the location of the nearby military Rhodes Maritsa Airport.
This was the island's main airport until 1977, when the new Rhodes International Airport was opened. A new facility was needed, as the "old" Maritsa airport did not meet the needs for a modern civil airport. The new "Diagoras" airport was built in 1977. It was determined that, in this location, it would meet the needs of the island better.
Improvements have been made to the airport, like expansion of taxiways, platform and airport buildings. The most recent upgrade is a new passenger terminal, opened in 2005, to accommodate the growing number of charter flights and passengers. The airport's plants currently cover a total area of 60,000 m$^2$
On 21 September 2015, Rhodes Airport was closed for 14 hours after a 'sinkhole' appeared in the runway. Flights were diverted to surrounding airports such as Kos and Heraklion as well as Athens and the runway was fixed and reopened the following day.
In December 2015, the privatisation of Rhodes 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. "We signed the deal today," the head of Greece's privatisation agency HRADF, Stergios Pitsiorlas, told Reuters. According to the agreement, the joint venture will operate the 14 airports (including Rhodes International Airport) for 40 years as of autumn 2016.

## Facilities
### Terminal

Rhodes Airport terminal is actually two separate buildings with a joined corridor in the middle. Departures are served both in ground (check-ins, baggage checks) and first floor (passenger screening, gates, shops) while arrivals are served only in ground floor's southern corner where passport control, customs and baggage reclaim operate. Airport does not have air bridges so boarding and disembarking require the use of buses.
Both terminals are and will be under renovations for the next couple of years from Fraport, as a series of chronic problems need to be addressed. Toilets and air conditioning system were first to be fixed while more complicated works including new check in facilities that will eliminate double checks for baggage as well interior remodeling will proceed gradually during low traffic winter months.
The airport also has a police station, a medical clinic, airline and handlers' offices, rent-a-car and tour operators' kiosks, VIP halls, recently refurbished duty-free shops, cafes and restaurants.

### Runway

The airport's single runway direction is 065/245 degrees (designated as 06/24), having a length of 3,305 meters and a width of 60 meters. There are two taxiways and four taxi links connecting the runway with the apron. The apron with the new pushback configuration can accommodate up to 20 ICAO reference category C or smaller airplanes, simultaneously. Three parking positions have MARS (Multiple Apron Ramp System) capability and can accommodate larger category D and E aircraft, such as the Airbus A330, A340 and A350 and the Boeing 747, 757, 767, 777 and 787. There is a small general aviation apron with three dedicated positions for small propelled or jet aircraft.

## Future of the airport - Fraport Greece's investment plan

On 22 March 2017, the Fraport-Greece presented its master plan for the 14 regional airports including the International Airport of Rhodes.
The following summarizes the enhancement changes that started in November 2017 and will be implemented for Rhodes International Airport under Fraport Greece's investment plan: Immediate actions that were implemented at the airports as soon as Fraport Greece took over operations and before the launch of the 2017 Summer season included:
* General clean-up
* Improving lighting, marking of airside areas.
* Upgrading sanitary facilities
* Enhancing services and offering new free Internet connection (WiFi)
* Implementing works to improve fire safety in all the areas of the airports
* Remodeling the current terminal
* Reorganizing the airport apron area
* New fire station
* 13 percent increase in the number of check-in counters (from 40 to 45)
* 13 percent increase in the number of departure gates (from 16 to 18)
* 71 percent in the number of security-check lanes (from 7 to 12)
* 25 percent increase in the number of baggage reclaim belts (from 4 to 5)

## Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Rhodes Airport:
| Airlines | Destinations |
| Aegean Airlines | Athens, Thessaloniki Seasonal: Chania (begins 14 April 2025), Heraklion (begins 30 March 2025), Istanbul (begins 20 May 2025), Santorini (begins 3 June 2025), Tirana Seasonal charter: Friedrichshafen, Memmingen |
| airBaltic | Seasonal: Riga, Tallinn |
| Air France | Seasonal: Paris–Charles de Gaulle |
| Air Serbia | Seasonal: Belgrade |
| Animawings | Seasonal: Bucharest–Otopeni |
| Arkia | Seasonal: Tel Aviv |
| Austrian Airlines | Seasonal: Vienna |
| Braathens International Airways | Seasonal charter: Aalborg, Gothenburg, Helsinki, Luleå, Malmö, Stockholm–Arlanda |
| British Airways | Seasonal: London–Gatwick, London–Heathrow |
| Brussels Airlines | Seasonal: Brussels |
| Chair Airlines | Seasonal: Zürich |
| Condor | Seasonal: Berlin (resumes 1 May 2025), Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig/Halle, Munich, Nuremberg, Stuttgart, Zürich |
| Corendon Airlines | Seasonal: Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Hannover, Nuremberg |
| Corendon Dutch Airlines | Seasonal: Amsterdam, Brussels, Groningen |
| Cyprus Airways | Seasonal: Larnaca |
| Discover Airlines | Seasonal: Frankfurt, Munich |
| easyJet | Seasonal: Amsterdam, Basel/Mulhouse, Belfast–International, Berlin, Birmingham, Bordeaux, Bristol, Edinburgh, Geneva, London–Gatwick, London–Luton, Manchester, Milan–Malpensa, Nantes (begins 25 June 2025), Naples, Paris–Orly, Toulouse, Venice |
| Edelweiss Air | Seasonal: Zürich |
| Enter Air | Seasonal charter: Katowice, Kraków |
| European Air Charter | Seasonal charter: Linz |
| Eurowings | Seasonal: Berlin, Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Graz, Hamburg, Nuremberg, Salzburg, Stuttgart Seasonal charter: Innsbruck |
| Finnair | Seasonal: Helsinki |
| FLYYO | Seasonal charter: Tel Aviv |
| Gulf Air | Seasonal: Bahrain |
| Helvetic Airways | Seasonal: Bern, Zürich |
| Israir Airlines | Seasonal: Tel Aviv |
| ITA Airways | Seasonal: Milan–Linate, Rome–Fiumicino |
| Jet2.com | Seasonal: Belfast–International, Birmingham, Bournemouth (begins 5 May 2025), Bristol, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds/Bradford, Liverpool, London–Luton (begins 5 April 2025), London–Stansted, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne |
| Leav Aviation | Seasonal: Cologne/Bonn |
| LOT Polish Airlines | Seasonal: Warsaw–Chopin |
| Lufthansa | Seasonal: Munich |
| Luxair | Seasonal: Luxembourg |
| Marabu | Seasonal: Hamburg, Munich |
| Neos | Seasonal: Bergamo, Bologna, Catania, Milan–Malpensa, Rimini, Rome–Fiumicino, Verona |
| Nordica | Seasonal charter: Tallinn |
| Norwegian Air Shuttle | Seasonal: Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo, Stavanger, Stockholm–Arlanda Seasonal charter: Trondheim |
| Olympic Air | Karpathos, Kasos, Kastellorizo, Sitia Seasonal: Heraklion |
| Pegasus Airlines | Seasonal: Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen |
| Ryanair | Seasonal: Bari, Bergamo, Berlin, Birmingham, Bologna, Bournemouth (resumes 1 June 2025), Budapest, Catania, Charleroi, Cork, Dublin, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Kaunas, Kraków, London–Stansted, Manchester, Marseille, Memmingen, Naples, Paphos, Pisa, Prague, Rome–Ciampino, Rome–Fiumicino (begins 1 May 2025), Sofia, Stockholm–Arlanda, Thessaloniki, Vienna, Warsaw–Modlin, Weeze |
| Scandinavian Airlines | Seasonal: Copenhagen, Oslo (begins 29 June 2025) Seasonal charter: Gothenburg, Luleå, Stockholm–Arlanda, Trondheim |
| Sky Express | Astypalaia, Athens, Chios, Heraklion, Kalymnos, Karpathos, Kos, Lemnos, Leros, Mytilene, Samos Seasonal: Paris–Charles de Gaulle Seasonal charter: Belgrade (begins 16 June 2025), Brasov (begins 9 June 2025), Bratislava, Cluj-Napoca, Craiova, Iasi (begins 1 June 2025), Sibiu, Timișoara, Weeze |
| SmartLynx Airlines | Seasonal charter: Münster/Osnabrück |
| Smartwings | Seasonal: Bratislava, Brno, Katowice, Košice, Ostrava, Prague, Warsaw–Chopin Seasonal charter: Budapest, České Budějovice, Poznan (begins 30 May 2025), Rzeszow |
| Sunclass Airlines | Seasonal charter: Bergen, Billund, Borlänge, Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Helsinki, Karlstad, Malmö, Molde, Norrköping, Örebro, Oslo, Stavanger, Stockholm–Arlanda, Trondheim, Växjö |
| Sundair | Seasonal: Berlin, Bremen, Dresden, Lübeck |
| Sundor | Seasonal: Tel Aviv |
| Swiss International Air Lines | Seasonal: Geneva |
| Transavia | Seasonal: Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Lyon, Nantes, Paris–Orly |
| TUI Airways | Seasonal: Birmingham, Bournemouth, Bristol, Cardiff, Dublin, East Midlands, Exeter, Glasgow, London–Gatwick, London–Luton, London–Stansted, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Norwich |
| TUI fly Belgium | Seasonal: Brussels, Liège, Ostend/Bruges |
| TUI fly Deutschland | Seasonal: Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hannover, Munich, Nuremberg, Saarbrücken, Stuttgart |
| TUI fly Netherlands | Seasonal: Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Rotterdam |
| TUI fly Nordic | Seasonal charter: Gothenburg, Norrköping, Stockholm–Arlanda |
| TUS Airways | Seasonal: Larnaca |
| Volotea | Seasonal: Bari, Lille, Lyon, Nantes, Naples |
| Vueling | Seasonal: Rome–Fiumicino |
| Wizz Air | Seasonal: Budapest, Rome–Fiumicino, Tel Aviv (resumes 1 June 2025), Warsaw–Chopin |

## Traffic figures

Figures are taken from the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) until 2016 and since 2017 from the official website of the airport.
* Year
* Passengers
* Domestic
* International
* Total
* 1994
* 380,072
* 2,111,714
* 2,491,786
* 1995
* 419,701
* 1,924,922
* 2,344,623
* 1996
* 477,396
* 1,764,121
* 2,241,517
* 1997
* 559,768
* 1,955,527
* 2,515,295
* 1998
* 535,284
* 2,137,028
* 2,672,312
* 1999
* 638,389
* 2,653,129
* 3,291,518
* 2000
* 720,560
* 2,686,490
* 3,407,050
* 2001
* 682,469
* 2,745,706
* 3,428,175
* 2002
* 628,837
* 2,601,646
* 3,230,483
* 2003
* 689,315
* 2,476,755
* 3,166,070
* 2004
* 697,873
* 2,338,650
* 3,036,523
* 2005
* 750,476
* 2,457,038
* 3,207,514
* 2006
* 809,965
* 2,681,557
* 3,491,522
* 2007
* 839,326
* 2,786,636
* 3,625,962
* 2008
* 843,529
* 2,723,940
* 3,567,469
* 2009
* 826,677
* 2,643,434
* 3,470,111
* 2010
* 736,566
* 2,850,006
* 3,586,572
* 2011
* 676,463
* 3,471,923
* 4,148,386
* 2012
* 600,167
* 3,213,780
* 3,813,947
* 2013
* 626,594
* 3,573,465
* 4,200,059
* 2014
* 691,040
* 3,861,016
* 4,552,056
* 2015
* 793,025
* 3,785,998
* 4,579,023
* 2016
* 848,878
* 4,093,508
* 4,942,386
* 2017
* 868,459
* 4,432,764
* 5,301,223
* 2018
* 829,475
* 4,738,273
* 5,567,748
* 2019
* 803,996
* 4,738,571
* 5,542,567
* 2020
* 352,985
* 1,198,138
* 1,551,123
* 2021
* 516,927
* 2,849,687
* 3,366,614
* 2022
* 708,866
* 5,148,170
* 5,857,036
* 2023
* 850,925
* 5,291,888
* 6,142,813
* 2024
* 906.241
* 6.015.507
* 6.921.748
* 2025(Feb)
* 109.598
* 6.079
* 115.677

### Traffic statistics by country (2023)

Traffic by country at Rhodes International Airport – 2023 :
| Place | Country | Total pax |
| 1 | United Kingdom | 1.341.929 |
| 2 | Germany | 937.844 |
| 3 | Greece | 850.925 |
| 4 | Poland | 377.614 |
| 5 | Israel | 277.576 |
| 6 | Sweden | 261.116 |
| 7 | Netherlands | 210.610 |
| 8 | Czech Republic | 193.329 |
| 9 | France | 192.540 |
| 10 | Finland | 191.330 |
| 11 | Italy | 187.218 |
| 12 | Denmark | 183.207 |
| 13 | Austria | 168.192 |
| 14 | Belgium | 160.750 |
| 15 | Norway | 157.280 |