By Bosphorus News Life Desk
Athens International Airport has dropped the procurement model for its main terminal expansion and will instead phase about €950 million in capacity spending through the end of 2030.
The decision, disclosed with first-half results on Sept. 9, ends the Early Contractor Involvement process for the Main and Satellite Terminal expansion. A separate open tender will now cover the first stage, including the South Main Terminal Pier and Satellite Terminal.
The airport is keeping its 40 million passenger capacity target but changing how the work will be delivered.
An earlier plan put the wider expansion program at about €1.3 billion in 2024 prices and aimed to lift annual capacity to 40 million passengers by 2032. A contractor award under the ECI process had been expected in the second half of this year.
Athens International Airport cited faster traffic growth, construction inside an operating terminal, air traffic control constraints and geopolitical uncertainty among the reasons for changing course. It is also studying options that could take capacity beyond 40 million passengers.
The €950 million figure covers expected capacity-related investment through the end of 2030 at 2026 prices. It is not a replacement price for every element of the earlier €1.3 billion program.
Passenger traffic reached 15.75 million in the first half of 2026, up 4.5% from a year earlier. Growth slowed from 8.1% in the first quarter to 2.2% in the second as Middle East disruptions affected services. The airport still raised its full-year traffic forecast to mid-single-digit growth.
First-half net profit fell 11.6% to €81.4 million.
By the end of August, Athens had handled 23.71 million passengers, 4.4% more than in the same period last year.
The capacity work comes as Athens struggles with punctuality.
EUROCONTROL's summer review for June through August recorded 54% departure punctuality at Athens, placing the airport among the five lowest performers in its group of Europe's 30 busiest airports.
Greece accounted for 12% of en-route delays across the network during the period covered by the review. Athens Area Control Centre was responsible for a large share, while Greek en-route delays were 57% higher than a year earlier.
Aegean Airlines recorded 60% arrival punctuality, the lowest result among the 20 busiest airline groups in the EUROCONTROL comparison. Athens was its largest source of delay.
Istanbul Airport recorded 81% departure punctuality over the same summer period, level with Oslo and behind only Stockholm Arlanda among the 30 airports reviewed.
Turkish Airlines ranked second among the 20 busiest airline groups with 85% arrival punctuality.
Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen posted the largest improvement among the 30 airports, gaining 12 percentage points despite a 7% increase in traffic. Antalya improved by nine points.
Türkiye's overall summer flight traffic remained below 2025 levels during part of the season because of the Middle East crisis. Istanbul Airport, Sabiha Gökçen and Türkiye as a whole still set new daily traffic records, according to EUROCONTROL.
Istanbul Airport also operates at a much larger passenger scale than Athens. General Directorate of State Airports Authority (DHMİ) figures show 39.9 million passengers in the first half of 2026, more than two and a half times the Athens total.
Its current expansion work is concentrated on runway capacity.
DHMİ said in August that Istanbul Airport's fourth main runway was nearing completion. The 2,820-meter runway is due to enter service after technical testing and is intended to shorten taxi times and increase operational flexibility.
İGA Chief Executive Selahattin Bilgen said this month that terminal capacity is planned to rise to 120 million passengers over the coming years. Construction of a second terminal is expected once annual traffic reaches about 110 million.
Athens, meanwhile, is breaking its terminal program into separate stages instead of committing the expansion to one large procurement package.
The first new terminal package will go to open tender. Other projects are already moving ahead, including a northwestern apron and multistorey car park due in 2027, a new VIP terminal and additional passport control and security screening capacity.
Sources: Athens International Airport, Euronext Athens, EUROCONTROL, General Directorate of State Airports Authority, İGA, Bosphorus News review and reporting.