Chania International Airport

Airport on the Greek island of Crete From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chania International Airport "Daskalogiannis" (IATA: CHQ, ICAO: LGSA) is an international airport located near Souda Bay on the Akrotiri peninsula of the Greek island of Crete, serving the city of Chania, 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) away. It is a gateway to western Crete for an increasing number of tourists. The airport is named after Daskalogiannis, a Cretan rebel against Ottoman rule in the 18th century, and is a joint civil–military airport. It is the sixth-busiest airport in Greece.

Airport typePublic/military
OwnerHellenic Civil Aviation Authority
OperatorFraport Greece
ServesChania, Crete
Quick facts Κρατικός Αερολιμένας Χανίων, "Δασκαλογιάννης", Summary ...
Chania International Airport
"Daskalogiannis"
Κρατικός Αερολιμένας Χανίων, "Δασκαλογιάννης"
Summary
Airport typePublic/military
OwnerHellenic Civil Aviation Authority
OperatorFraport Greece
ServesChania, Crete
Focus city for
Elevation AMSL149 m / 490 ft
Coordinates35°31′54″N 024°08′59″E
Websitechq-airport.gr
Map
CHQ is located in Greece
CHQ
CHQ
Location in Greece
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
11L/29R 3,347 10,981 Asphalt
Statistics (2024)
Passengers3,952,126
Passenger traffic changeIncrease 8.3%
Aircraft movements26,502
Aircraft movements changeIncrease 7.4%
Source: Fraport-Greece[1]
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History

Aerial view
Terminal interior

The focus on civil aviation for the west of Crete has not always been on the current location. It was the airport of Maleme that served civil flights up to 1959, and dating back to the end of Second World War.[citation needed]

In 1959, this activity was transferred to the military airport of Souda.[citation needed] In 1974, the airport also began to serve international flights. Because of insufficient capacity, there was the need for a new terminal building. Eventually, in 1996, the new terminal was ready, measuring a surface area of 14,650 square metres (157,700 sq ft), with 6 aircraft stands in front. It has a design capacity of 1.35 million passengers per year.[citation needed] In 2000, it was officially named Ioannis Daskalogiannis.

The airport is also intensively used as a military airfield by the Hellenic Air Force.[2][3]

In December 2015, the privatisation of Chania 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.[4] According to the agreement, the joint venture will operate the 14 airports (including Chania International Airport) for 40 years as of 11 April 2017.

In June 2018[5] Fraport Greece completed the new aircraft layouts, which are now using push back to double the parking space. The passenger safety area has been expanded, the number of hand baggage scanners from 5 to 8, the duty-free store space trebled from 400 sq.m. to 1,200 sq. meters, the VIP space moved to increase the number of boarding gates from 14 to 16 and the dividing walls in the departure halls were removed in order to create a space of 3,000 sq. meters. A new sewage pumping station was built, and the network (approximately 3.5 km) was connected to the municipal network. Electromechanical installations, including new motor control centres (MCCs), wiring, lighting, and electrical panels, were optimized. The apron lighting was upgraded, and the water closets (WCs) were renovated to increase the number of toilets in the non-Schengen area. Additionally, the escalator was relocated to better utilize the available space.[6]

On 10 June 2018, Air Force One carrying U.S. President Donald Trump stopped for refuelling in Chania during Trump's flight from the G7 meeting in Quebec to the meeting in Singapore with the leader of North Korea Kim Jong-un.[7]

Fraport Greece's investment plan

On 22 March 2017, Fraport Greece presented its master plan for the 14 Greek regional airports, including Chania International Airport.[8]

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Chania Airport:

More information Airlines, Destinations ...
AirlinesDestinations
Aegean Airlines Athens,[9] Thessaloniki[10]
Seasonal: Rhodes[11]
Air Serbia Seasonal: Belgrade[12]
Animawings Seasonal: Bucharest–Otopeni[13]
Austrian Airlines Seasonal: Vienna[14]
British Airways Seasonal: London–Gatwick (begins 24 May 2026),[15] London–Heathrow[16]
Brussels Airlines Seasonal: Brussels[17]
Condor Seasonal: Frankfurt,[18] Hamburg,[19]
Discover Airlines Seasonal: Frankfurt,[20] Munich[20]
easyJet Seasonal: Amsterdam,[21] Basel/Mulhouse,[22] Berlin,[23] Bristol,[24] Geneva,[25] Glasgow,[25] London–Gatwick,[26] London–Luton,[25] Lyon,[23] Manchester,[25] Milan–Malpensa,[23] Nantes,[27] Nice[23]
Edelweiss Air Seasonal: Zurich[28]
Eurowings Seasonal: Düsseldorf,[29] Graz,[30] Hamburg,[29][31] Stuttgart[32]
Finnair Seasonal: Helsinki[33]
Jet2.com Seasonal: Birmingham,[34] Bristol,[35] East Midlands (begins 26 May 2026),[36] Edinburgh (begins 5 May 2027),[37] Leeds/Bradford,[38] London–Stansted,[39] Manchester,[40] Newcastle upon Tyne[41]
Luxair Seasonal: Luxembourg[42]
Neos Seasonal: Milan–Malpensa[43]
Norwegian Air Shuttle Seasonal: Bergen,[44] Billund (begins 2 May 2026),[45] Copenhagen,[46] Oslo,[47] Stockholm–Arlanda[48]
Ryanair Thessaloniki[23]
Seasonal: Athens,[49] Bergamo,[23] Birmingham,[50] Bologna,[51] Bournemouth,[52] Bucharest–Otopeni,[23] Budapest,[23] Charleroi,[23] Dublin,[23] East Midlands,[23] Gdańsk,[23] Hahn,[23] Kraków,[23] Leeds/Bradford,[23] London–Stansted,[23] Malta,[23] Manchester,[23] Marseille,[23] Memmingen,[23] Naples,[23] Newcastle upon Tyne,[23] Paphos, Pisa,[23] Poznań,[23] Rome–Fiumicino,[23] Sofia,[23] Stockholm–Arlanda,[23] Vienna,[53] Warsaw–Modlin,[23] Weeze,[23] Wrocław[23]
Scandinavian Airlines Seasonal: Copenhagen,[54] Oslo,[54] Stockholm–Arlanda[54]
Sky Express Athens
Seasonal charter: Brno[55]
Smartwings Seasonal: Prague[56]
Seasonal charter: Debrecen,[57] Poznan[58]
Transavia Seasonal: Amsterdam,[59] Lyon,[60] Paris–Orly[61]
TUI Airways Seasonal: Birmingham,[62] London–Gatwick[63]
TUI fly Belgium Seasonal: Brussels,[64] Ostend/Bruges[65]
TUI fly Netherlands[66] Seasonal: Amsterdam[67]
Wizz Air Seasonal: Belgrade (begins 9 June 2026),[68] London–Luton (begins 8 June 2026),[69] Rome–Fiumicino (begins 29 June 2026),[70] Warsaw–Chopin[71][72]
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Traffic figures

The data are from Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)[73] until 2016, and from 2017 and later from the official website of the airport.[74]

More information Year, Passengers ...
Year Passengers
Domestic International Total
1994 204,360 621,986 826,346
1995 Increase220,910 Increase669,516 Increase890,426
1996 Increase244,146 Decrease587,106 Decrease831,252
1997 Increase301,471 Increase622,689 Increase924,160
1998 Decrease292,504 Increase676,687 Increase969,191
1999 Increase414,429 Increase816,045 Increase1,230,474
2000 Increase515,093 Increase901,710 Increase1,416,803
2001 Decrease395,864 Increase1,033,118 Increase1,428,982
2002 Decrease331,521 Increase1,053,058 Decrease1,384,579
2003 Increase413,541 Increase1,066,112 Increase1,479,653
2004 Decrease382,224 Decrease1,064,153 Decrease1,446,377
2005 Increase401,141 Increase1,111,628 Increase1,512,769
2006 Increase437,403 Increase1,323,556 Increase1,760,959
2007 Increase514,318 Increase1,368,516 Increase1,882,834
2008 Increase522,658 Decrease1,343,923 Decrease1,866,581
2009 Increase575,687 Decrease1,219,779 Decrease1,795,466
2010 Decrease468,279 Decrease1,186,585 Decrease1,654,864
2011 Decrease449,211 Increase1,325,497 Increase1,774,708
2012 Decrease397,661 Increase1,435,313 Increase1,832,974
2013 Decrease379,280 Increase1,699,577 Increase2,078,857
2014 Increase578,286 Increase1,869,280 Increase2,447,566
2015 Increase827,190 Increase1,875,093 Increase2,702,283
2016 Increase881,031 Increase2,085,666 Increase2,966,697
2017 Decrease831,324 Increase2,111,085 Increase3,042,409
2018 Decrease646,723 Increase2,361,964 Decrease3,008,687
2019 Increase672,945 Decrease2,310,597 Decrease2,983,542
2020 Decrease295.385 Decrease408.097 Decrease703.482
2021 Increase454,298 Increase1,340,938 Increase1,795,236
2022 Increase678,845 Increase2,611,957 Increase3,290,802
2023 Increase828,793 Increase2,819,623 Increase3,648,416
2024 Increase896,324 Increase3,055,802 Increase3,952,126
2025(Oct) Increase830,982 Increase3,161,167 Increase3,992,149
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Traffic statistics by country (2024)

More information Place, Country ...
Traffic by country at Chania International Airport – 2024
Place Country Total pax
1 Greece Greece 896.324
2 United Kingdom United Kingdom 536.408
3 Germany Germany 370.694
4 Denmark Denmark 331.608
5 Poland Poland 302.324
6 Norway Norway 299.407
7 Sweden Sweden 239.004
8 Finland Finland 215.089
9 Italy Italy 110.956
10 France France 97.794
11 Belgium Belgium 81.177
12 Austria Austria 65.685
13 Cyprus Cyprus 64.266
14 Romania Romania 63.143
15 Hungary Hungary 58.854
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Source:[75]

Ground transport

The airport can be easily reached by car, bus (to Chania and Rethymnon) or taxi via the main road network.

See also

References

External links

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