Эллиникон: История и трансформация афинского аэропорта

Former airport that served Athens, Greece (1938–2001)

Ellinikon International Airport , sometimes spelled Hellinikon, was an international airport that served Athens, Greece, for 63 years. Following its closure on 28 March 2001, it was replaced in service by the new Athens International Airport Eleftherios Venizelos. The airport was located south of Athens, and just west of Glyfada. It was named after the village of Elliniko, now a suburb of Athens. The airport had an official capacity of 11 million passengers per year, but served 13.5 million passengers during its last year of operations. A large portion of the site was converted into a stadium and sports facilities for the 2004 Olympic Games. The former airport is now the site of a major development for coastal Athens, which came under criticism because well preserved historic buildings (from the 1930s) were demolished. In 2020, construction began on the Hellenikon Metropolitan Park, a complex consisting of luxury homes, hotels, a casino, the Inspire Athens tower, a marina, shops, and offices; it is estimated to be completed by 2025. The airport site is bordered by beaches to the west, by the Glyfada Golf Club to the south, by the Elliniko Glyfada municipal boundary, and by a residential area. The Athens radar center is still based at Elliniko.

After its closure, the northwest portion of the airport was redeveloped, converting aprons into a provisory Olympic complex that housed the 2004 Summer Olympics venues for canoe and kayak slalom, field hockey, baseball, and softball. Other Olympics related upgrades to the airport included transforming one of the western hangars into the secondary arena for the basketball tournament and the fencing competition. During the 2004 Summer Paralympics, the arena hosted wheelchair fencing and sitting volleyball matches. The archery events, blind football, and CP football were held at the hockey and softball fields. In 2005, a team led by architects David Serero, Elena Fernandez, and landscape architect Philippe Coignet won a competition against over 300 teams of architects to design a metropolitan park on the former site of the Ellinikon Airport. The competition was sponsored by UIA (International Union of Architects), the Greek Ministry of Environment, and the Organization for the Planning and Environmental Protection of Athens (ORSA). The project was further developed in 2006 and 2007 by this team through two development phases with the planning organizations of Athens. By 2012, government plans to attract investors and develop the site commercially were eclipsing the proposed park, though nearby communities remained vocal about their preference for a park. There was also another plan to turn the airport into a coastal resort.

The following is a list of aircraft accidents and incidents that occurred at or in the vicinity of Ellinikon airport. Only deadly occurrences or hull losses are listed. 21 June 1959 – Following a tire burst upon landing, a fire erupted when debris ruptured the fuel lines of a Royal Canadian Air Force Canadair North Star (registration 17525) that was returning to Canada. 2 August 1961 – SAA Boeing 707 344 ZS CKE scraped a wall and hit a tree during takeoff. After arriving in Nairobi, it was discovered substantial damage was present. The plane was repaired. 26 December 1968 – Two terrorists opened fire and threw grenades at El Al Flight 253, killing one passenger. 8 December 1969 – Olympic Airways Flight 954, a Douglas DC 6 (tail number SX DAE), crashed into Mount Paneio while on approach to the airport. All 90 passengers and crew on board were killed, making the accident the worst aviation disaster involving a DC 6. 21 October 1972 – An Olympic Airways NAMC YS 11A 500 (tail number SX BBQ) that was operating a domestic scheduled Kerkyra–Athens passenger service crashed into the sea on approach to the airport in poor visibility. There were 53 people aboard, of whom 36 passengers and the co pilot drowned, while 13 passengers and the remaining three crew members were rescued. 23 January 1973 – A Piaggio P.136L 2 amphibious plane (tail number SX BDC) crashed shortly after takeoff from runway 33. The crash occurred as a result of the reversing of the aileron connecting cables during the installation of a new control column on the plane. Alexander Onassis, one of the aircraft's three passengers, died as a result of injuries sustained in the accident. 5 August 1973 – The 1973 Athens Hellinikon International Airport attack, in which two Palestinian militants claiming affiliation with the Black September Organization opened fire on a passenger lounge, killing three and wounding 55. 17 December 1973 – Stopover of hijacked Lufthansa Flight 303, a flight from Italy to Kuwait. 3 December 1975 – TMA Boeing 747 123F OD AGC landed on runway 15 with just 5,000 feet of pavement remaining and applied thrust reversers late, causing the plane to go off the end of the runway and onto a public road. All 7 onboard survived and the plane was repaired. 9 August 1978 – Olympic Airways Flight 411, a Boeing 747, experienced an engine failure on takeoff but returned safely without passenger or crew injuries. 8 October 1979 – Swissair Flight 316, a Douglas DC 8 62 (registration HB IDE), overran the runway on landing, inbound from Geneva. Both the port wing and the tail separated from the fuselage before the aircraft came to rest. A fire that broke out killed 14 of the 154 people on board. 14 June 1985 – TWA Flight 847 was hijacked shortly after takeoff from Athens, and the passengers were held hostage for three days. One was murdered. 24 March 1992 – A Golden Star Air Cargo Boeing 707 320C (tail number ST ALX) that was operating an Amsterdam Athens cargo service, struck Mount Hymettus, southeast of the airport, on a visual approach. There were seven reported fatalities.

Elliniko has a hot semi arid climate (BSh), closely bordering a Mediterranean climate (Csa) with hot, dry summers and cool, rainy winters.

The 1986 Menahem Golan movie The Delta Force used the exterior of the airport in the Athens International Airport scene where one of the Lebanese terrorists exits a taxi. The Athens airport interiors, however, were filmed in Terminal 1 of Ben Gurion Airport. The 2015 Christoforos Papakaliatis movie Worlds Apart used the East Terminal building and apron as a camp for refugees, as well as the exterior and interior of the abandoned Boeing 747 200 parked there. In 2018, the music video for "Tomame" by Greek pop star Eleni Foureira was partially filmed in the airport. The sci fi short film Third Kind by Yorgos Zois is set in the airport, in the aftermath of the refugee crisis, where the belongings of the refugees are the props of the movie. In 2019, a challenge for the 2020 season of the Belgian reality TV show De Mol was filmed on the runway and apron.