Kos International Airport

"Kos Airport" redirects here. For the airport in Cambodia with IATA code KOS, see Sihanouk International Airport.

Kos International Airport "Ippokratis" (Greek: Διεθνής Αερολιμένας Κω "Ιπποκρατης"; named for Hippocrates) (IATA: KGS, ICAO: LGKO) is an international airport on the island of Kos in Greece. It is located near Antimachia Village, and is operated by Fraport AG.

Kos International Airport "Ippokratis" Κρατικός Αερολιμένας Κω "Ιπποκρατης"
IATA: KGS ICAO: LGKO WMO: 16742[1]
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Greek state
Operator	Fraport Greece
Serves	Kos Island
Location	Antimachia, Greece
Focus city for	Aegean Airlines
Elevation AMSL	409 ft / 126 m
Coordinates	36°47′36.01″N 27°05′30″E
Website	kgs-airport.gr
Map
KGS Location of airport in Greece
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 14/32 7,874 2,400 Asphalt
Statistics (2022)
Passengers 2,791,590[2] Passenger traffic change 77.3% Aircraft movements 21.475 Aircraft movements change 51.2
Statistics[3]

The airport mainly serves charter airlines, who bring customers on holiday to the island. Kos Airport hits its peak in summer, with flights from German and British airlines primarily.

History

The airport was opened on 4 April 1964. In 1974, the runway was extended to 2,400 metres. Due to increased traffic at the airport, a new terminal was built in 1980. In 1997, the terminal building was renovated and expanded.^{[citation needed]}

In December 2015, the privatisation of Kos Island 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.^[4] "We signed the deal today," the head of Greece's privatisation agency HRADF, Stergios Pitsiorlas, told Reuters.^[5] According to the agreement, the joint venture will operate the 14 airports (including Kos Island International Airport) for 40 years as of 11 April 2017.

On 22 March 2017, Fraport AG and its Greek subsidiary Fraport Greece presented its plans for 14 regional airports that they had been handed control of by the Greek Government.^[6] The immediate actions by Fraport were to improve lighting, improve the marking of airside areas, upgrade sanitary facilities, enhance WiFi services and implementing better fire safety throughout the airport.

The long-term plans by the operator, which initially were to continue until 2021, included the building of a new terminal and a new fire station, and the refurbishment of the waste water treatment plant The new terminal provides significantly more check-in desks and security check lanes.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Kos Airport:

Airlines	Destinations
Aegean Airlines[7]	Athens, Thessaloniki[8] Seasonal: Heraklion (begins 2 June 2025)[9]
Aer Lingus	Seasonal: Dublin[10]
airBaltic	Seasonal: Riga[11]
arkia	Seasonal: Tel Aviv (resumes 30 May 2025)[12]
Austrian Airlines	Seasonal: Vienna[13]
Bluebird Airways	Seasonal: Tel Aviv
Braathens International Airways	Seasonal charter: Gothenburg,[14] Stockholm-Arlanda[14]
British Airways	Seasonal: London–Gatwick[15][16]
Brussels Airlines	Seasonal: Brussels[17][18]
Buzz[19]	Seasonal charter: Katowice
Chair Airlines	Seasonal: Zürich[20]
Condor	Seasonal: Düsseldorf, Frankfurt,[21] Hamburg, Leipzig/Halle, Munich,[22] Stuttgart,[23] Vienna,[24] Zürich[25]
Corendon Airlines	Seasonal: Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf,[26] Hannover,[27] Nuremberg
Corendon Dutch Airlines	Seasonal: Amsterdam, Brussels,[28] Maastricht/Aachen
Discover Airlines	Seasonal: Frankfurt,[29] Munich[30]
easyJet	Seasonal: Berlin,[31] Birmingham,[32] Bristol,[33] Glasgow,[33] Liverpool,[34] London–Gatwick,[35] Lyon,[36] Manchester,[37] Milan–Malpensa,[33] Naples,[38] Venice[33]
Edelweiss Air	Seasonal: Zürich[39]
Enter Air[40]	Seasonal charter: Gdańsk,[19] Katowice, Warsaw–Chopin
European Air Charter	Seasonal charter: Linz
Eurowings	Seasonal: Berlin,[41] Cologne/Bonn,[42] Dusseldorf,[43] Graz,[44] Hamburg,[45] Innsbruck,[46][47] Linz (begins 11 May 2025),[48] Nuremberg[49] Salzburg,[50] Stuttgart[51]
Helvetic Airways	Seasonal: Bern,[52] Zürich
Jet2.com	Seasonal: Birmingham,[53] Bournemouth (begins 29 July 2026),[54] Bristol,[55] East Midlands,[56] Edinburgh,[57] Leeds/Bradford,[58] Liverpool,[59] London–Luton (begins 21 May 2026),[60] London–Stansted,[61] Manchester,[62] Newcastle upon Tyne[63]
Leav Aviation	Seasonal: Cologne/Bonn[64]
Lufthansa	Seasonal: Frankfurt[65]
Luxair	Seasonal: Luxembourg[66]
Marabu	Seasonal: Hamburg, Munich
Neos	Seasonal: Bergamo,[67][68] Bologna,[69] Milan–Malpensa,[70] Verona[71][72]
Ryanair[73]	Seasonal: Bari,[33] Bergamo,[33] Berlin,[33] Bologna,[33] Dublin,[74] London–Stansted,[75][76] Milan–Malpensa,[77] Pisa,[78] Rome–Fiumicino,[33] Treviso,[33] Vienna,[33] Weeze,[79][80] Zagreb[81]
Scandinavian Airlines	Seasonal charter: Copenhagen, Oslo, Stavanger,[82] Stockholm–Arlanda
Sky Express	Astypalaia,[83] Athens, Heraklion, Kalymnos,[83] Leros,[83] Rhodes[83] Seasonal: Amsterdam Seasonal charter: Bratislava,[84] Weeze[85]
SmartLynx Airlines	Seasonal charter: Münster/Osnabrück[86]
Smartwings[87]	Seasonal: Bratislava, Brno,[88] Ostrava,[89] Prague,[90] Warsaw–Chopin
Sunclass Airlines	Seasonal charter: Oslo[91]
Sundair	Seasonal: Berlin, Bremen,[92] Dresden
Swiss International Air Lines	Seasonal: Geneva[93]
Trade Air	Seasonal charter: Ljubljana
Transavia	Seasonal: Amsterdam,[94] Eindhoven,[95] Paris–Orly,[96] Rotterdam/The Hague[97][98]
TUI Airways	Seasonal: Belfast–International, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, East Midlands, London–Gatwick, London–Luton,[99] Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne
TUI fly Belgium	Seasonal: Brussels[100]
TUI fly Deutschland	Seasonal: Düsseldorf,[101] Frankfurt,[102] Hannover,[103] Munich,[104] Stuttgart[105]
TUI fly Netherlands	Seasonal: Amsterdam,[106] Eindhoven,[107] Groningen,[108] Rotterdam[109]
Wizz Air	Seasonal: Rome–Fiumicino[110]

Statistics

Annual passenger traffic at KGS airport. See Wikidata query.

The data are from Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)^[111] until 2016 and from 2017 onwards from the official website of the airport.^[112]

Year Passengers Domestic International Total 1994 125,215 1,130,052 1,255,267 1995 141,283 1,015,148 1,156,431 1996 150,271 892,154 1,042,425 1997 153,151 1,006,424 1,159,575 1998 145,312 1,044,604 1,189,916 1999 169,650 1,274,656 1,444,306 2000 217,876 1,360,280 1,578,156 2001 200,614 1,440,986 1,641,600 2002 177,003 1,321,099 1,498,102 2003 183,821 1,278,862 1,462,683 2004 247,758 1,256,941 1,504,699 2005 255,077 1,207,698 1,462,775 2006 251,610 1,321,507 1,573,117 2007 272,271 1,369,410 1,641,681 2008 264,276 1,351,177 1,615,453 2009 260,347 1,257,599 1,517,946 2010 231,057 1,396,183 1,627,240 2011 220,921 1,705,302 1,926,223 2012 192,043 1,605,458 1,797,501 2013 175,422 1,853,196 2,028,618 2014 189,750 2,024,714 2,214,464 2015 201,000 1,942,860 2,143,860 2016 205,695 1,695,800 1,901,495 2017 234,023 2,086,567 2,320,590 2018 271,725 2,394,582 2,666,307 2019 284,948 2.391,696 2.676,644 2020 134.392 666.263 800.655 2021 174,028 1,400,490 1,574,518 2022 263,900 2,527,690 2,791,590 2023 305,775 2,648,944 2,954,719 2024 326.182 2.743.477 3.069.659 2025(Mar) 61.004 181 61.185

Traffic statistics by country (2024)

Traffic by country at Kos International Airport – 2024^[113]

Rank	Country	Total passengers
1	United Kingdom	768.252
2	Germany	712.243
3	Greece	326.182
4	Poland	225.477
5	Netherlands	225.048
6	Italy	163.766
7	Belgium	102.682
8	Switzerland	99.531
9	Czech Republic	90.737
10	Austria	88.092
11	France	47.808
12	Sweden	44.941
13	Denmark	32.503
14	Ireland	30.877
15	Israel	28.890

Ground transport

By public bus:^[114] A transit bus service operates between the airport and Kos town, Mastichari, Kardamena and Kefalos.

By tour operator transfer: Tour operators such as Jet2holidays and TUI UK provide free bus transfers from customers' accommodation to the airport.

By taxi:^[115] 24/7 metered taxi service is available outside the Kos Airport Terminal building.

By car:^[116] Kos Airport is located 24 km from the Kos town and is accessible from the provincial road Kos-Kefalos.

Accidents and incidents

• In 2013, an Air Explore Boeing 737 made an emergency landing due to the left engine overheating. Once it taxied to the gate, the engine caught fire. The pilot ordered an evacuation using the emergency slides on either side of the aircraft. No one was injured during the incident.

See also

• Transport in Greece