Capacity increase boosts a vital network
DURING THE PAST FEW YEARS, ALL AIRPORTS HAVE UNDERGONE EXTENSIVE MODERNIZATION CUTTING DELAYS AND BEEFING UP SECURITY AND SAFETY

Most visitors arriving in Greece for the Olympic Games in 2004 will enter via Athens, the main air gateway, though there are 24 additional international airports located throughout the country. The scattered islands of Greece make air transport vital, complementing the country’s extensive maritime network.

ATHANASIOS TZOGANIS Governor Civil Aviation Authority

For Athanasios Tzoganis, Governor of the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (HCAA), the preparation for the anticipated influx of passengers in less than two years’ time started long ago. The HCAA already handle around 36 million passengers each year, but more are projected.
Regular visitors to Greece are, no doubt, already impressed with the new Athens International Airport, Eleftherios Venizelos, the country’s largest infrastructure project which opened in 2001 in preparation for the Olympics.

Capacity at the airport – which is managed by a private Greek-German consortium – has been raised to around 650 flights per day. Mr. Tzoganis says this will be even higher when the world’s greatest sporting event arrives.
“We will have to increase the capacity in order to handle the passengers and flights during that time,” he says.
Nonetheless, millions of tourists and visiting businessmen are already benefiting from the HCAA’s forward planning and investment program. “We accept more flights during the peak hours and peak seasons, we can serve the carriers and the passengers better and avoid delays of arriving and departing flights,” he adds.
In addition to the 24 other international airports, the HCAA is also responsible for the management of the country’s 14 domestic airports. During the past few years, an extensive modernization project covering all Greece’s airports has taken place. On top of that, there is an additional five-year development program worth some $1 billion, which includes more than 100 individual projects.

REGULAR VISITORS are already impressed by the new Athens International Airport, Eleftherios Venizelos.

The HCAA also provides air traffic control services and oversees air safety and security, a vital issue in the aftermath of the events of September 11th.
Mr. Tzoganis says that the HCAA complies with all international air safety guidelines. It fully cooperates with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC). Since September 11th, security has been tightened further and he insists that Greece is a very safe country to visit.
“We have a national aviation security system, we continuously make security aviation surveys and inspections of all the airports and carriers, and we also use trained state police personnel and not private security,” he says.
In the build-up to 2004, security will be an even more pressing concern for the authority, which means more baggage and passenger checks. “We are progressively going to introduce additional measures to be 100 percent safe,” he says.

Behind the scenes, the HCAA has invested in ultra-modern air traffic control technology to monitor all movements in the country’s airspace. But while safety and security has gone up, time delays have been cut.
These state-of-the-art technology systems, the high degree of safety and security and the high level of facilities offered to passengers, led the International Air Transport Authority (IATA) to rank the new Athens airport as among the best in the world, and second among European airports.
The new face of the country’s airports is mirrored in the changes taking place in the local airline business, which is being transformed into a more commercial and viable entity. The national flag carrier, Olympic Airways, for example, is set to be privatized soon, with the government looking to sell off at least a 50 percent stake to a foreign strategic investor.

Mr. Tzoganis says that Greece is a small country with a long history, but above all, it is a safe place to visit.
“We believe that Greece is a beautiful and safe country, which has developed greatly over the years,” he says. “The people in Greece are very hospitable, traditional and friendly. This is the real Greece.”