The company will prepare the detailed design of the new airport to be built in Kasteli, on the Greek island of Crete, with a capacity for 15 million passengers. It will be located some 35 kilometres from the existing Nikos Kazantzakis airport, which was opened in 1937 in Heraklion, the island’s capital and currently serves as the country’s second international airport.
The construction and operation of the new airport have been awarded to the international consortium Ariadne Group, comprising the Indian company GMR Airports and the Greek holding company GEK TERNA. By 2015, Ineco had already completed the tender project for TERNA, which included the Master Plan and the complete conceptual design, both on the ground and in the air: a airfield with a 3,200 metre runway, parking apron for 41 aircraft (commercial, general aviation and helicopters), ground access, a passenger terminal building with approximately 75,000 m² of floorspace, the control tower and auxiliary buildings: SEI, police, power plant, water supply, water treatment plant, maintenance building, buildings for handling operators and fuel plant.
The new airport is expected to be operational by 2025.
