Europe · Greece

Handling at Athens (LGAV)

We handle overflight permits, slots, flight plans, fuel, customs and the turnaround at Athens Eleftherios Venizelos. One coordinator owns the stop at Athens, from the first filing to wheels up.

AERODROME

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ICAO: LGAV
IATA: ATH
Elevation: 308 ft
Position: 37.936, 23.945

RUNWAYS

03R/21L4,000 m / 13,123 ftAsphalt
03L/21R3,800 m / 12,467 ftAsphalt

Reference only, not for flight planning. Lengths are full declared runway length rather than declared distances, and this page is not amended on the AIRAC cycle. Check the current AIP and NOTAMs, or ask the desk and we will check them for you.

The field

What LGAV is actually like

Athens is the gateway to the Greek islands and the point where most island trips clear into or out of Schengen. It has capacity, modern facilities and a business aviation operation that understands the island-hopping pattern.

Operating brief

What we handle before you file

Permits

Greece is in the EU, and the HCAA is the authority. The permit question at Athens is usually about the leg after it, into Türkiye, Egypt or the Levant.

Slots and parking

Coordinated, but Athens itself is rarely the bottleneck. The islands are the bottleneck. Mykonos and Santorini run out of parking long before Athens runs out of slots.

Customs and border

Athens is where most island trips clear into or out of Schengen, because Mykonos and Santorini cannot do it at volume. Clear here and the island leg becomes a domestic hop.

When it gets tight

June through September for the islands. Athens absorbs the overflow when Mykonos and Santorini cannot take an overnight, so its busy weeks track theirs.

On the ground

Off the aircraft and into the car

Forty minutes to central Athens on a good road. Piraeus is further and matters when the trip continues by yacht, which in July it usually does. Handling is straightforward and the terminal copes with the summer volume better than the islands do.

Alternates

Where we go when LGAV will not take the trip

Every one of these is a field we would put to you with the reason attached, not a list of nearby runways.

LGMK
Mykonos
The destination for much of the summer traffic, and severely parking limited in season.
LGIR
Heraklion
Crete, with more capacity than the Cyclades and a full border post.
LGTS
Thessaloniki
Northern Greece, and the better field for Halkidiki.

What we handle here