Rhodes International Airport

History

Civil aviation on Rhodes started after the Second World War, on the location of the nearby military Rhodes Maritsa Airport.

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 60000 m2

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

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: | Aegean Airlines | Athens, Heraklion, Thessaloniki Seasonal: Chania, Istanbul, Santorini, Tirana Seasonal charter: Friedrichshafen, Memmingen | Air France | Seasonal: Paris–Charles de Gaulle | Air Serbia | Seasonal: Belgrade | airBaltic | Seasonal: Riga, Tallinn | airHaifa | Seasonal: Haifa | Animawings | Seasonal: Bucharest–Otopeni | Arkia | Seasonal: Tel Aviv | Austrian Airlines | Seasonal: Vienna | British Airways | Seasonal: London–Gatwick, London–Heathrow | Brussels Airlines | Seasonal: Brussels | Chair Airlines | Seasonal: Zurich | Condor | Seasonal: Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Nuremberg, Stuttgart, Vienna, Zurich | Corendon Airlines | Seasonal: Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Hannover, Tel Aviv | 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, Bristol, Edinburgh, Geneva, London–Gatwick, London–Luton, Manchester, Milan–Malpensa, Nantes, Naples, Newcastle upon Tyne (begins 31 March 2026), Paris–Orly | Edelweiss Air | Seasonal: Zurich | Eurowings | Seasonal: Berlin, Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Graz, Hamburg, Nuremberg, Salzburg, Stuttgart | Finnair | Seasonal: Helsinki | Gulf Air | Seasonal: Bahrain | Helvetic Airways | Seasonal: Bern, | Israir Airlines | Seasonal: Tel Aviv | ITA Airways | Seasonal: Milan–Linate, Rome–Fiumicino | Jet2.com | Seasonal: Belfast–International, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Bristol, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds/Bradford, Liverpool, London–Gatwick (begins 3 May 2026), London–Luton, London–Stansted, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne | Leav Aviation | Seasonal: Münster/Osnabrück (begins 24 April 2026) | LOT Polish Airlines | Seasonal: Warsaw–Chopin | Lufthansa | Seasonal: Munich | Luxair | Seasonal: Luxembourg | Marabu | Seasonal: Hamburg | Neos | Seasonal: Bergamo, Bologna, Catania, Milan–Malpensa, Rome–Fiumicino, Tel Aviv, Verona | Norwegian Air Shuttle | Seasonal: Copenhagen, Oslo, Stavanger, Stockholm–Arlanda Seasonal charter: Trondheim | Olympic Air | Karpathos, Kasos, Kastellorizo, Sitia | Pegasus Airlines | Seasonal: Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen | Ryanair | Seasonal: Bari, Bergamo, Berlin, Birmingham, Bologna, Bournemouth, Budapest, Catania, Charleroi, Cork, Dublin, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Kaunas, Kraków, London–Stansted, Manchester, Naples, Paphos, Pisa, Prague, Rome–Ciampino, Rome–Fiumicino, Sofia, Stockholm–Arlanda, Vienna, Warsaw–Modlin, Weeze | Scandinavian Airlines | Seasonal: Copenhagen, Oslo Seasonal charter: Gothenburg, Luleå, Stockholm–Arlanda, Trondheim | Sky Express | Athens, Chios, Heraklion, Kalymnos, Karpathos, Kos, Lemnos, Leros, Mytilene, Samos Seasonal charter: Belgrade Cluj-Napoca, Iași, Sibiu, Timișoara |SkyUp Airlines | Seasonal: Chișinău (begins 27 May 2026) | Smartwings | Seasonal: Bratislava, Brno, Košice, Ostrava, Prague, Seasonal charter: České Budějovice, Poznań, Rzeszow | Sunclass Airlines | Seasonal charter: Molde | Sundair | Seasonal: Berlin, Bremen | Sundor | Seasonal: Tel Aviv | Swiss International Air Lines | Seasonal: Geneva | Transavia | Seasonal: Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Lyon, Nantes, Paris–Orly | TUI Airways | Seasonal: Birmingham, Bournemouth, Cardiff, East Midlands, Exeter, Glasgow, London–Gatwick, London–Stansted, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Norwich | TUI fly Belgium | Seasonal: Brussels, Ostend/Bruges | TUI fly Deutschland | Seasonal: Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hannover, Munich, Stuttgart | TUI fly Netherlands | Seasonal: Amsterdam, Dublin, Eindhoven, Rotterdam/The Hague | Volotea | Seasonal: Lille, Lyon, Nantes, Naples | Wizz Air | Seasonal: Budapest, London–Luton (begins 7 June 2026), Rome–Fiumicino, Tel Aviv, 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.

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Traffic statistics by country (2023)

References

References

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