Rhodes International Airport 5.42

Rhodes International Airport, "Diagoras" or Diagoras International Airport is located on the West side of the island of Rhodes in Greece. The facility is located just north of the village Paradisi, about 14 km southwest of the capital city, Rodos. Rhodes International Airport was the fourth busiest airport in Greece as of 2016, with 5,007,159 passengers utilizing the airport.HistoryCivil aviation on Rhodes started after the Second World War, on the location of the nearby military Rhodes Maritsa Airport.This was the island's main airport until 1977, when the new Rhodes International Airport was opened. The need for a new facility was big, as the 'old' Maritsa airport did not meet the needs for a modern civil airport. The new "Diagoras" airport was built in 1977. It was decided that, on this location, it would meet the needs of the island better.Improvements have been made to the airport, like expansion of taxiways, platform and airport buildings. The most recent upgrade is a new passenger terminal, opened in 2005, to accommodate the growing number of charter flights and passengers. The airport's plants currently cover a total area of 60,000 m2In 2015, Rhodes Airport was closed for 14 hours after a 'sinkhole' appeared in the runway. Flights were diverted to Athens and the runway was fixed and reopened shortly afterwards.In December 2015 the privatisation of Rhodes International Airport and 13 other regional airports of Greece was finalised with the signing of the agreement between the Fraport AG/Copelouzos Group joint venture and the state privatisation fund. "We signed the deal today," the head of Greece's privatisation agency HRADF, Stergios Pitsiorlas, told Reuters. According to the agreement, the joint venture will operate the 14 airports (including Rhodes International Airport) for 40 years as of autumn 2016.