0Modern new airport for Crete

Crete has a num­ber of air­ports, but the major­ity of trav­el­lers will arrive at either Chania or (more likely) Herak­lion. Herak­lion Air­port is a mixed civil­ian mil­it­ary facil­ity that is trapped between the sea, the moun­tains, and the city, leav­ing it little room to expand. It has been clear for a long time that a new air­port was needed and plans have focused on a former mil­it­ary base in the moun­tains near Kastelli.

Work finally star­ted in Febur­ary just before the Cov­id-19 pan­dem­ic took over glob­al news. Ini­tially the plan was for the air­port to be oper­at­ing with­in 5 years (by early 2025 or soon­er) and work on the road link has also star­ted, with a 17km upgrade link­ing to the exist­ing nation­al road near Her­son­nisos which will make for con­veni­ent trans­fers from the new air­port to the resorts on the north coast between Malia and Heraklion.