Crete's overstuffed Heraklion Int'l Airport on track to pass 10 million passenger mark
Bring on that new airport please, and pronto
Heraklion International Airport “Nikos Kazantzakis” is hopping, with total passenger traffic from January to November approaching the 10,000,000 mark. That’s according to data from the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority. Now, assuming that upwards of 250,000 passengers will transit through the airport in December, that makes it all but certain that by year’s end, the threshold of ten million passengers will have been met.
That’s good news and well, not so good. The airport, whose main (and only) terminal is a relic from a bygone era, is overstuffed even on a slow day and consistently gets some of the worst consumer reviews. In summer, overcrowding in the boarding areas borders on nightmarish. Something here has got to change
And before too long, it will.
A new Crete airport is currently under construction at Kastelli, with the current one scheduled to close in 2027. As Nea Kriti reports, “the surge in traffic once again highlights the limits of the existing airport: ‘Nikos Kazantzakis’ has been operating marginally for years, with pressure on aircraft parking, check-in, waiting rooms and security checkpoints.”
Interestingly, international arrivals to the airport in November jumped by nearly 44 percent compared to last year, a trend which underscores how the traditional summer tourism season is evolving, with off peak/winter tourism all over the world now becoming less of a notion and more of a reality.
By most accounts the new airport is going to serve up to 18 million passengers annually, something which is likely to transform tourism on the Crete, Greece’s biggest island — some would say that’s great, others would say less so. It’s our prediction that once the airport is complete, there will eventually be non-stop flights from the United States to Crete — which could have knock-on effects for American arrivals to Athens.
But all that is down the road. For the time being, we’ve got the puny Heraklion airport that is not only showing telltale signs of wear-and-tear but is thoroughly harrowing to experience, and not only in the summer months. About the only good thing you can say about it is that it’s very close to the Heraklion city center, making airport transfers pretty easy.
On our most recent pass through the airport, we had a business class upgrade on Aegean for a flight back to Athens (the airport’s busiest route) which included a lounge pass, but guess what? There is no Aegean business class lounge at the airport (we found this out by asking an airport staffer where the lounge was, which elicited the kind of reaction that you might expect if asking a scientist if there’s really a colony of cats on the moon).
There’s a lot of hype about the new airport, but the reality is that flying into Heraklion is currently a real challenge in terms of basic human comfort. But that’s also the strategy we recommend: by all means fly into Nikos Kazantzakis, but only fly out of it if you really have to.
That’s right. Flying in is pretty straightforward, especially if you don’t have any checked luggage. You take a very short transfer bus ride from your plane to the terminal, collect your baggage (if any) and off you go. The problems come with departure — overcrowded check-in areas, congested security lines, and as mentioned, sardine-packed boarding areas. Which might be less sardine-packed if so much space wasn’t given over to all that hellish overperfumed duty-free dreck, but that’s a problem afflicting all airports these days. It’s a demoralizing, dehumanizing experience that is best avoided.
So avoid it. Instead of flying back to Athens, take a boat. There are plenty of ferries that leave day and night from Heraklion’s port, which is even closer to the city center than the airport. It’ll take longer, but it is not nearly as soul-crushing of an experience. You might even spot a dolphin or two en route.🐬
An honest review of Crete's a destination on the rise. I am looking forward to the
review of the Islands long overdue airport.