Covid – 19, New Mykonos Airport and coronavirus crisis

Despite COVID-19 pandemic the new Mykonos Airport (JMK) will be delivered as planned

Mykonos will never die. Anyone who has visited the island knows that this windy white washed beauty with a cosmopolitan breeze is and will remain the Diva of the Aegean. Although the coronavirus crisis has caused the lockdown or near lockdown of Europe and North America transportation assets, the Diva of the Aegean is getting ready for the new airport that will be soon inaugurated, and is preparing for better days to come!

Fraport Greece, which is responsible for maintaining, operating, managing, upgrading and developing fourteen regional airports in Greece over a period of 40 years, following the COVID-19 pandemic, has not paused or slowed down the opening of the new JMK, which is expected to be completed this summer, as only a few things associated with the delivery of the automated luggage system are pending.

Fraport Greece, which is responsible for maintaining, operating, managing, upgrading and developing fourteen regional airports in Greece over a period of 40 years, following the COVID-19 pandemic, has not paused or slowed down the opening of the new JMK which is expected to be completed this summer, as only a few things associated with the delivery of the automated luggage system are pending. JMK, as an International Airport, will follow strict sanitary controls; amid the Covid-19 outbreak, quarantine and isolation protocols are already strictly enforced and the island’s current infection rate is zero.

Mykonos Airport is undergoing a complete new design and upgrades. The new 25 million euros design blends modern architecture with the traditional character of the Cyclades. The 2020 Mykonos Airport will be synonymous of Cycladic architecture and one of the most modern in the world.

Since the opening of the airport in 1971, it has undergone many expansions and efurbishments which only ended up obscuring its original character. Operationally wise, it reached a point when it could serve up to 350.000 travelers each year. But Mykonos expanded and grew immensely in the last two decades, with a capacity of welcoming more than one million holidaymakers. Currently, JMK can serve 1.3 million per year. The new airport will be able to serve two million passengers annually by 2026.

Air travelers will be served by 16 check-in counters and 7 boarding gates. A new arrivals hall will be created in the extension of the northern side of the existing building. There will also be a complete remodeling and renovation of the airport’s interiors, including an expansion of the area featuring shops and boutiques.

More specifically the core changes regard,

  • extension of a total area of 2000m2 to the northern side of the existing buildingwhich will host the airport’s new arrivals area
  • expansion of the existing building by another 500m2 creating more Gates
  • remodeling – refurbishment of all airport areas
  • new retail and F&B areas
  • complete refurbishment of the existing sanitary facilities
  • creation of two new VIP Lounges
  • creation of a CIP Lounge
  • installation of a new automated luggage handling system
  • redesigning of the entire curbside area

During the 40-year Fraport Greece concession period, the company will implement additional maintenance and upgrading works, as well as capacity expansions (dependent on traffic growth) resulting in possible total investments of some 1 billion euros.

 

Edited by Mykonos Luxury based on information provided through the internet