Sitia Airport is a small community airport in the region Mponta of Sitia Municipality, on the eastern part of Crete in Greece. The facility is serving the city of Sitia. The airport is located 1 km north/northwest of the city center.
History
Sitia Airport began operations on 7 June 1984 when the first aircraft landed on the facility. This was an Olympic Airways' Dornier Do-228, registration SX-BHF. This was a test flight, to test the airport and its handling facilities. The airport was officially opened 2 days later, on 9 June 1984. Its official name became Δημοτικός Αερολιμένας Σητείας, literally Municipal Airport of Sitia. At 10:30 the same day, the first official flight, OAL 7001, arrived. On 13 June, the first flight from Rhodes arrived, followed by a flight from the neighbouring island Karpathos the next day. On 20 May 1993, the airport's services moved to a newly built terminal building and control tower. The new installations cover an area of 550 m2. A new runway, oriented 05/23 and with a length of 2,074 meters was completed in May 2003. Also, 3 new taxiways and 2 new aircraft stands have been constructed. Additionally, the old terminal building has been replaced by a temporary building, covering an area of 1,000 m2. On 13 January 13 2016, the airport's services moved to a new terminal building. The new building has an area of 7,500 m2.
Airlines and destinations
Statistics
Annual Passenger Throughput
Year
Flights
Passengers
Change in Passengers
2001
93
1,945
15.1
2002
42
1,762
9.4
2003
666
13,144
646.0
2004
411
16,731
27,3
2005
781
19,283
15.3
2006
940
22,902
18.8
2007
1,804
35,218
53.8
2008
1,764
39,711
12.8
2009
1,714
38,195
3.8
2010
1,805
38,859
1.7
2011
1,786
39,604
1.9
2012
2,024
37,801
4.6
2013
2,064
35,962
4.9
2014
1,978
34,873
3.0
2015
1,924
27,015
22.5
2016
1,766
20,903
22.6
2017
1,254
32,479
55.4
2018
1,730
61,877
95.0
*2019
528
16,425
Period: Jan - Jun
Ground transportation
By car the airport can be reached via the main road along the North coast. From Aghios Nikolaos, heading west, the main road transforms into the National Road of Crete. The City of Sitia is just a few minutes drive away from the airport. Besides rental cars, there are taxis available to any destination on Crete. There are no bus connections available from the airport.
