The Eleftherios Venizelos airport, named after the Greek statesman who rebuilt Greek-Turkish Relations in the inter-war period, is due to open in April 2001. On a 16.5-hectare site in a former wine-growing area near Spata, 18.5km east of Athens, the new airport is intended to become a transport hub for southeast Europe. Designed to cater for 16m passengers yearly in its first stage of operation, it will replace the existing international airport at Hellenikon, used by about 11m passengers annually.

An international consortium led by Hochtief AG, the German construction group, controls 45% of the Athens International Airport company. The other 55% is held by the Greek state. The company has a 30-year concession to operate the airport, which includes the construction period. The other partners are ABB Calor, an affiliate of the Swedish-Swiss engineering group, Germany's H.Krantz and Flughafen Athens-Spata, which will take over day-to-day operation of the airport. Over 70% of the construction work is being carried out by private Greek contractors.

The new airport's most important client will be Olympic Airways, which plans to build a GDR 26bn base for administrative and technical operations on site.

With two runways to allow simultaneous take-off and landings, the airport will be able to handle 600 flights and 6,000 passengers daily. There will be a minimum 45-minute connection time for transfers between flights. The design calls for construction in modules so the terminal building can be expanded as capacity increases. A second terminal building will be added for the airport to reach its full capacity of 50m passengers yearly. Because of severe constraints on expansion at airports in central Europe, Athens airport could become a secondary hub for major international carriers such as Lufthansa and British Airways and their airline alliance partners.

The airport company expects to earn about 60% of its income from concessions offered to service providers.

Olympic Fuel, a Greek-German consortium, will construct a spur pipeline from Elefsis to providing fuelling services for the airport
J & A (Hellas) is building three freight terminals designed to handle over 200,000 tonnes of cargo yearly.
French hotel chain Accor is constructing a 354-bed airport hotel.
Olympic Catering, a subsidiary of Greek state carrier Olympic Airways, and two international groups - Abela Group and Eurest Inflight Services Hellas - will provide in-flight catering services.
The airport will be linked to the capital by a GDR500bn toll highway, the Attiki Odos.