Kavala International Airport

Kavala International Airport "Alexander the Great" (Greek: Κρατικός Αερολιμένας Καβάλας «Μέγας Αλέξανδρος»,[2] Kratikós Aeroliménas Kaválas "Mégas Aléxandros") (IATA: KVA, ICAO: LGKV) is an airport located in the municipality of Nestos, in Greece.

Kavala International Airport "Alexander The Great"

Κρατικός Αερολιμένας Καβάλας, "Μέγας Αλέξανδρος"
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorFraport AG/Copelouzos Group joint venture
ServesKavala
LocationChrysoupoli
Elevation AMSL18 ft / 5 m
Coordinates40°54′48″N 024°37′09″E
Websitekva-airport.gr
Map
KVA
Location of airport in Greece
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
05R/23L 3,000 9,844 Asphalt
Statistics (2019)
Passengers323,310
Passenger traffic change 20.6%
Aircraft movements3,465
Aircraft movements change 16.5%
Sources:Fraport-Greece[1]

History
The terminal
Airport's interior

The airport was originally located closer to Kavala, in the installations of the Greek Air Force, near the village of Amygdaleonas, where it began its operations in 1952 as Kavala National Airport. On 12 October 1981, it was moved near the town of Chrysoupoli, where it operates today. The relocation greatly improved the service to the nearby island of Thasos and the city of Xanthi, in addition to the continued service to the cities of Kavala and Drama.

A bust of Alexander the Great in Kavala airport

The airport was initially used only for domestic flights, as the original name implies. In December 1987, by a joint decision of the Minister of Presidency and the Minister for Transport and Communications it was renamed to Kavala International Airport to be again renamed in January 1992 to Kavala International Airport "Megas Alexandros", by a decision of the Minister for Transport and Communications.

At the beginning of its operation at its new location, the building infrastructure of the airport included only a terminal building. The control tower, the fire station and the other installations were built later. A small extension to the terminal building was added in 1992. The runway had been built, with the same dimensions that it has today. In 1998, extensive works began for new building infrastructure and today the airport of Kavala is functioning as a single upgraded total (old and new installations together), including all modern facilities for service both to airlines and passengers, contributing to the growth of East Macedonia and Thrace.

In December 2015, the privatisation of Kavala 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.[3] "We signed the deal today," the head of Greece's privatisation agency HRADF, Stergios Pitsiorlas, told Reuters.[4] According to the agreement, the joint venture will operate the 14 airports (including Kavala International Airport) for 40 years as of 11 April 2017.

Fraport Greece's investment plan

On 22 March 2017, Fraport Greece presented its master plan for the 14 Greek regional airports, including the International Airport of Kavala.[5]

Immediate actions that will be implemented at the airports as soon as Fraport Greece takes over operations, before the launch of the 2017 summer season include:

  • General clean-up
  • Improving lighting, marking of airside areas
  • Upgrading sanitary facilities
  • Enhancing services and offering a new free Internet connection (WiFi)
  • Implementing works to improve fire safety in all the areas of the airports

The following summarizes the enhancement changes that will start in October 2017 and will be implemented for Kavala International Airport, under Fraport Greece's investment plan, by 2021:

  • Terminal expansion by 2,029 m²
  • Remodeling the current terminal
  • HBS inline screening
  • Refurbishing and expanding the fire station
  • Expanding the waste water treatment plant or connection to municipal service
  • Reorganizing the airport apron area
  • Refurbishing the airside pavement
  • 20 percent increase in the number of check-in counters (from 8 to 10)

Airlines and destinations
AirlinesDestinations
Austrian Airlines Seasonal: Vienna[6]
Belavia Seasonal charter: Minsk[7]
Condor Seasonal: Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich
Eurowings Seasonal: Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Munich, Stuttgart
Finnair Seasonal charter: Helsinki[8]
Jet Time Seasonal charter: Copenhagen[9]
LOT Polish Airlines Seasonal: Gdańsk (begins 8 July 2020),[10] Kraków (begins 3 July 2020),[11] Poznań (begins 4 July 2020),[12] Warsaw (begins 05 July 2020), Wrocław (begins 4 July 2020)[13]
Neos Seasonal: Milan–Malpensa (begins 6 July 2020),[14] Verona (begins 6 July 2020)[14]
Norwegian Air Shuttle Seasonal charter: London–Gatwick[15]
Olympic Air Athens
Scandinavian Airlines Seasonal charter: Gothenburg,[16] Stockholm–Arlanda[16]
Smartwings Seasonal charter: Brno, Ostrava, Prague[17]
Smartwings Poland Seasonal charter: Katowice,[18] Vilnius,[19] Warsaw–Chopin,[18]
Smartwings Slovakia Seasonal charter: Bratislava[20]
TUI Airways Seasonal: Birmingham, London–Gatwick, Manchester
TUI fly Belgium Seasonal: Brussels
TUI fly Netherlands Seasonal: Amsterdam[21]

Statistics

The data taken from the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) until 2016 and from 2017 onwards from the Fraport Greece website.

Year Passengers
Domestic International Total
2010 143,333 152,861 296,194
2011 93,271 159,036 252,307
2012 68,232 135,013 203,245
2013 64,545 144,855 209,400
2014 73,340 149,625 222,965
2015 78,745 165,000 243,745
2016 77,540 192,435 269,975
2017 75,284 262,679 337,963
2018 75,026 331,923 406,949
2019 68,328 254,982 323,310
2020 (May) 12,401 19 12,420

See also

References
  1. "KAVALA AIRPORT "M.ALEXANDROS"". kva-airport.gr. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  2. "Κρατικός Αερολιμένας Καβάλας 'Μ. Αλέξανδρος' (ΚΑΚΒΑ)". Hellenic Civilian Aviation Authority. www.hcaa.gr. Archived from the original on 1 October 2011. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
  3. "Greece signs privatization of 14 regional airports with Germany's Fraport | TornosNews.gr".
  4. "REFILE-UPDATE 1-Greece signs major privatisation deal with Germany's Fraport".
  5. "Fraport Greece’s Development Plan for the New Era at the Greek Regional Airports", fraport-greece.com
  6. Liu, Jim (8 November 2019). "Austrian resumes 2 Greek leisure routes in S20". routesonline.com.
  7. "Flight". mouzenidis.com.
  8. Liu, Jim (8 November 2019). "Finnair adds seasonal Kavala scheduled charters in S20". routesonline.com.
  9. "Flight". spies.dk.
  10. "LOT will launch 130 connections to several dozen European resorts". businessinsider.com.ple. 24 June 2020. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  11. https://businessinsider.com.pl/firmy/wakacje-2020-lot-poleci-do-kurortow-w-grecji-hiszpanii-i-wloch/zz5f5ew
  12. "LOT will launch 130 connections to several dozen European resorts". businessinsider.com.ple. 24 June 2020. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  13. "LOT will launch 130 connections to several dozen European resorts". businessinsider.com.ple. 24 June 2020. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  14. Liu, Jim (22 January 2020). "Neos adds Kavala service in S20". routesonline.com.
  15. "Flights". olympicholidays.com.
  16. "Flight". ving.se.
  17. "Thassos". alexandria.cz.
  18. "air and charter tickets". itaka.pl.
  19. "Paieškos rezultatai". itaka.lt.
  20. "29 scheduled routes in 14 countries from BTS in summer". Archived from the original on 16 April 2015.
  21. https://www.tui.nl/vliegtickets/
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