Samos International Airport

Samos International Airport "Aristarchos of Samos" Κρατικός Αερολιμένας Σάμου "Αρίσταρχος ο Σάμιος»
IATA: SMI ICAO: LGSM WMO: 16723 [1]
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner/Operator	Fraport AG/Copelouzos Group joint venture
Serves	Vathy
Location	Samos Island, Greece
Elevation  AMSL	19 ft / 6 m
Coordinates	37°41′24″N026°54′42″E / 37.69000°N 26.91167°E / 37.69000; 26.91167
Website	smi-airport.gr
Map
SMI Location of airport in Greece
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 09/27 6,890 2,100 Asphalt
Statistics (2022)
Passengers 453,264 Passenger traffic change 67.7% Aircraft movements 5,700 Aircraft movements change 23.2%
Sources:HCAA, [2] Fraport Greece [3]

Samos International Airport "Aristarchos of Samos"( IATA : SMI, ICAO : LGSM) is an airport on Samos Island, Greece.

The airport is named after Aristarchos of Samos, an ancient astronomer and mathematician, and lies within 5 km from the nearby town of Pythagorio. The airport has a single short runway. The airport's surroundings leave little room for error or mistake on the behalf of the pilots – with nearby mountains and sea at the end of the short runway. In summer there are often strong Meltemi winds from the north, which further contribute to the difficulty of the landing.

There is one terminal building. There are five boarding gates, none of which have jet-bridges. Passenger facilities are split across two floors and include a duty-free shop and a small café.

History

The airport first operated in May 1976. ^[4] In the late 1990s/early 2000s, the terminal was renovated: the capacity of the airport was increased to deal with increasing passenger numbers.

In December 2015, the privatisation of Samos 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. ^[5] "We signed the deal today," the head of Greece's privatisation agency HRADF, Stergios Pitsiorlas, told Reuters. ^[6] According to the agreement, the joint venture will operate the 14 airports (including Samos International Airport) for 40 years as of 11 April 2017.

Future investment

On 22 March 2017, Fraport Greece presented its master plan for the 14 regional airports including the International Airport of Samos. ^[7]

The following summarizes the enhancement changes that will be started in October 2017 and will be implemented for Samos International Airport under Fraport Greece's investment plan until 2021:

• General clean-up
• Improving lighting, marking of airside areas.
• Upgrading sanitary facilities
• Enhancing services and offering a new free Internet connection (WiFi)
• Implementing works to improve fire safety in all the areas of the airport
• Expanding and remodeling the current terminal
• New fire station
• Reorganizing the airport apron area
• 19 percent increase in the total size of the terminal at 9,605 m²
• 40 percent increase in the number of check-in counters (from 10 to 14)
• 25 percent increase in the number of departure gates (from 4 to 5)
• 50 percent increase in the number of security lanes (from 2 to 3)

In January 2021, Fraport Greece concluded the last of the construction works for the 14 airports – well ahead of the April 2021 contractual deadline. ^[8]

On 9 October 2024, Fraport Greece announced to proceed to the third phase of runway construction works of 9 regional airports in Greece, including the International Airport of Samos. For the construction Samos Airport was temporarily shut down from November 05, 2024 to November 25, 2024. ^[9]

On 21 July 2025, Fraport Greece announced to proceed to the forth phase of runway construction works of 8 regional airports in Greece, including the International Airport of Samos. For the construction Samos Airport will be temporarily shut down for 24hrs every Wednesday, 00:01 - 23:59 (local time), from November 18, 2025 to March 24, 2026, with the 23^rd, 24^th and 31^st of December 2025, as well as the 6^th and 7^th of January 2026 being exempted. ^[10]

Airlines and destinations

Check-in hall

View of the airport from the west

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

Airlines	Destinations
Aegean Airlines	Athens [11]
Austrian Airlines	Seasonal: Vienna [12] [13]
Brussels Airlines	Seasonal: Brussels [14]
Condor [15]	Seasonal: Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, [16] Hamburg, Munich
Corendon Dutch Airlines	Seasonal: Amsterdam [17]
Discover Airlines	Seasonal: Munich [18]
Edelweiss Air	Seasonal: Zürich [19]
Eurowings	Seasonal: Düsseldorf [20]
Jet2.com	Seasonal: Birmingham (begins 4 May 2026), [21] London–Stansted (begins 7 May 2026), [22] Manchester (begins 5 May 2026) [22]
Neos	Seasonal: Milan–Malpensa, [23] [24] Verona
Olympic Air	Thessaloniki [25]
Scandinavian Airlines	Seasonal charter: Copenhagen, [26] Gothenburg, [27] Oslo, [28] Stockholm–Arlanda [27] Trondheim [28]
Sky Express	Athens, Chios, [29] Lemnos, [29] Mytilene, [29] Rhodes, [29] Thessaloniki [29]
Smartwings	Seasonal: Prague [30]
Trade Air	Seasonal charter: Ljubljana
Transavia	Seasonal: Amsterdam [31]
TUI Airways	Seasonal: London–Gatwick [32]
TUI fly Belgium	Seasonal: Brussels [33]
TUI fly Netherlands	Seasonal: Amsterdam [31]
TUI fly Nordic	Seasonal charter: Gothenburg, [34] Oslo, [35] Stockholm–Arlanda [34]

Traffic figures

The data are from Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) ^[36] until 2016, and data from 2017 and later are from the official website of the airport. ^{[37] [ better source needed ]}

Year	Passengers
	Domestic	International	Total
1994	121.370	296.640	418.010
1995	132.269	282.192	414.461
1996	141.864	264.430	406.294
1997	149.564	263.334	412.898
1998	146.056	277.498	423.554
1999	189.132	314.704	503.836
2000	180.446	287.948	468.394
2001	154.004	304.686	458.690
2002	141.362	283.488	424.850
2003	142.212	266.835	409.047
2004	153.067	240.562	393.629
2005	155.534	236.593	392.127
2006	190.879	260.039	450.918
2007	216.605	265.382	481.987
2008	204.873	266.993	471.866
2009	216.174	230.968	447.142
2010	193.530	217.035	410.565
2011	172.672	236.048	408.720
2012	149.664	214.984	364.648
2013	136.641	207.076	343.717
2014	151.107	245.201	396.308
2015	149.302	253.848	403.150
2016	153.240	193.540	346.780
2017	161.313	248.972	410.331
2018	159.763	290.128	449.891
2019	168.892	298.503	467.395
2020	100.669	43.630	144.299
2021	131,580	138,718	270,298
2022	174,647	278,617	453,264
2023	193,356	283,950	477,306
2024	192.817	295.377	488.194.
2025(Jul)	116.972	147.858	264.830

Traffic statistics by country (2022)

Traffic by country at Samos International Airport – 2022 ^[38]

Place	Country	Total passengers
1	Greece	174,647
2	Netherlands	65,079
3	Germany	59,112
4	Sweden	27,007
5	Denmark	23,656
6	Poland	17,803
7	Belgium	14,944
8	Italy	13,488
9	Norway	13,011
10	Czech Republic	11,849
11	Finland	7,715
12	Slovenia	7,625
13	United Kingdom	6,827
14	Switzerland	4,282
15	Austria	3,599

Accidents and incidents

• On 3 August 1989, Olympic Aviation Flight 545 crashed into Mount Kerkis while on approach to Samos Airport. All 31 passengers and all three crew members died in the accident. ^[39]

See also

• Transport in Greece

References

1. "METAR/Synop Information for LGSM (16723) in Samos Airport , Greece". Gladstonefamily.net. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
2. "SAMOS AIRPORT "ARISTARCHOS OF SAMOS"". ypa.gr. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
3. "Air traffic statistics" (PDF).
4. "Samos Airport". Archived from the original on 10 April 2015. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
5. "Greece signs privatization of 14 regional airports with Germany's Fraport". Tornos News. 14 December 2015. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
6. "REFILE-UPDATE 1-Greece signs major privatisation deal with Germany's Fraport". Reuters. 14 December 2015. Archived from the original on 11 August 2017.
7. "Fraport Greece’s Development Plan for the New Era at the Greek Regional Airports" Archived 26 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine , fraport-greece.com
8. "Development Plans". Fraport AG. Retrieved 27 August 2025.
9. "Runway construction works at the airports of Zakynthos (ZTH), Kavala (KVA), Kefallonia (EFL), Corfu (CFU), Mykonos (JMK), Santorini (JTR), Samos (SMI), Rhodes (RHO), & Mitiline (MJT) enter third phase". Fraport AG. 9 October 2024. Retrieved 27 August 2025.
10. "Fourth Phase of Runway Construction Works at the Regional Airports". Fraport AG. 21 July 2025. Retrieved 27 August 2025.
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13. Liu, Jim (8 November 2019). "Austrian resumes 2 Greek leisure routes in S20". routesonline.com.
14. "Brussels Airlines adds eight new destinations to its Summer 2022 schedule". 18 January 2022.
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16. Liu, Jim (4 April 2024). "Alaska Airlines / Condor Expands Codeshare Network in NS24". Aeroroutes.com. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
17. Liu, Jim. "Corendon Airlines NS25 737 MAX 9 Network Overview – 15JUN25". Aeroroutes.com. Retrieved 16 June 2025.
18. Liu, Jim (13 November 2024). "Aegean Airlines Adds Discover Airlines Codeshare Service in NS25". Aeroroutes.com. Retrieved 2 February 2025.
19. "Zurich, Switzerland". OAG Flight Guide Worldwide. 25 (2). Luton, United Kingdom: OAG Aviation Worldwide Limited: 1178–1184. August 2023. ISSN   1466-8718.
20. Liu, Jim (14 March 2024). "Aegean Airlines Begins Eurowings Codeshare From late-March 2024". Aeroroutes.com. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
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24. Liu, Jim (2 January 2019). "Neos schedules new European routes in S19". routesonline.com.
25. Liu, Jim (3 August 2023). "Aegean Airlines / Olympic Air NW23 Domestic Operation Changes". Aeroroutes.com. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
26. "Flight". apollorejser.dk.
27. "Flight". apollo.se.
28. "Flight". apollo.no.
29. "LIST OF PUBLIC SERVICE OBLIGATIONS" (PDF). Aeroroutes.com. 11 March 2024. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
30. "Prague, Czech Republic". OAG Flight Guide Worldwide. 25 (2). Luton, United Kingdom: OAG Aviation Worldwide Limited: 877–880. August 2023. ISSN   1466-8718.
31. "Amsterdam, Netherlands". OAG Flight Guide Worldwide. 25 (2). Luton, United Kingdom: OAG Aviation Worldwide Limited: 37–47. August 2023. ISSN   1466-8718.
32. Nath, Kanchan (3 April 2024). "TUI UK bolsters summer 2025 flying programme with focus on choice and flexibility".
33. "Brussels, Belgium". OAG Flight Guide Worldwide. 25 (2). Luton, United Kingdom: OAG Aviation Worldwide Limited: 165–172. August 2023. ISSN   1466-8718.
34. "Only Flight". tui.se.
35. "Only Flight". tui.no.
36. "Samos Airport Aristarchos of Samos". ypa.gr.
37. "Samos Airport (SMI) - 2017 vs 2016" (PDF). smi-airport.gr. 2017.
38. "Traffic by Country_2022_SMI" (PDF). smi-airport.g. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
39. "ASN Aircraft accident Shorts 330-200 SX-BGE Samos Airport (SMI)". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 30 June 2023.