Crete's New Airport at Kastelli
Replacing Heraklion, moving the island's front door about 35 km inland
For decades, arriving in Crete has meant landing five kilometres from the middle of Heraklion. That is about to change. A new airport is being built inland at Kasteli, it is intended to replace the current one entirely, and it will reset every transfer distance on the island at once. Some places get closer, several get further, and the south of Crete may change more than anywhere. Here is what is actually established, what the numbers look like today for comparison, and, just as importantly, what nobody can honestly tell you yet.
This airport is still a building site
Kastelli is planned to take over from Heraklion's current airport, and the dates in circulation do not agree: the construction reporting points at 2027, while aviation records list 2028, and the project has moved before. Nobody sells a ticket, a transfer or a bus fare to Kastelli today. This page collects what is genuinely known now, so you can plan a 2027 or 2028 trip with your eyes open, and we add the fares and timetables as they are published.
What is actually known
Every line below is sourced, and the sources are listed at the foot of the page.
- Where it is
- Inland at Kastelli in central Crete, roughly 35 to 40 km south-east of Heraklion city and about 17 km from Hersonissos
- What happens to the old airport
- Heraklion 'Nikos Kazantzakis' is expected to close once Kastelli is fully operational
- Road access
- A new 17 km road will link the airport to the A90 north-coast motorway near Hersonissos. The airport is also planned as the junction between the north road axis and the south road axis, which is what would open up southern Crete
- What it will be called
- Officially the New International Airport of Heraklion, at Kasteli. Its ICAO code is LGTL and no IATA code has been assigned yet, so whether it inherits Heraklion's HER is still open. Expect airlines and booking sites to show it as Heraklion
- Size
- A single 3,800 m runway, with capacity projected at around 11 million passengers in the first year
- Cost and progress
- A €625 million project, reported as more than 65% complete at the end of October 2025
Who gets closer, who gets further
Today's figures are published and checked. For the new airport we give a distance only where one has been published, and otherwise state the direction of the change. Adding today's numbers to the Kastelli distance would be a guess dressed up as a fact, so we do not do it.
| Where you are going | From Heraklion airport today | From Kastelli |
|---|---|---|
Heraklion town Further | About 5 km from the current airport | Roughly 35 to 40 km. This is the biggest change of all, and the one returning visitors will assume has not happened |
Hersonissos, Stalis and Malia Closer | Roughly 25 to 35 km; published fixed taxi fares €44 to Hersonissos, €52 to Malia | About 17 km, and the new link road meets the motorway in this same area. The one part of Crete that gains |
Agios Nikolaos and Elounda Closer | 62 km to Agios Nikolaos, around 70 to 75 km to Elounda | Nearer, since Kastelli lies east of Heraklion and these are further east again. No figure published yet |
Rethymno Further | 80 km, about 1 hr 10 min | Further, since the drive west now starts east of Heraklion. No figure published yet |
Chania Further | 147 km, about 2 hr | Further again. Chania's own airport is 13.5 km from its old town and remains the sensible arrival point for western Crete |
Southern Crete Closer | Everything routes through the north coast motorway | Potentially the biggest structural change: the airport is planned as the junction between the north and south road axes, which would open up the south properly for the first time |
What we cannot tell you yet
We would rather leave these blank than fill them with guesses. Each one becomes a real answer here the moment it is published.
- •Which airlines will fly there, and on which routes. Schedules are not published this far out.
- •Taxi and private transfer fares. Crete's licensed operators publish fixed-fare lists per route, and none of them lists Kastelli yet.
- •Whether there will be a direct public bus, and to where. This matters more than it sounds: there is no direct bus from the current Heraklion airport to Chania, and travellers are caught out by it constantly.
- •Exact drive times. The link road and the motorway junction are not finished, so any minute-by-minute figure quoted today is a guess.
- •Which car hire companies will have desks there.
Travelling before it opens?
Until this happens, Crete arrivals still land at Heraklion's current airport, and the routes from it are live, priced and checked. The longest and most misunderstood of them is Heraklion Airport to Chania, with fares and the two-leg bus route.
Plan the rest of the trip
Whichever airport you land at, here is where to find things to do.
Sources
Everything on this page is drawn from the project's own published reporting, aviation records and operators' published fare lists, last checked on 30 July 2026. No fare, timetable or drive time is quoted anywhere above for the new airport, because none has been published.
- GTP Headlines — Kastelli construction progress and 2027 target
- CAPA — Kasteli / New Heraklion Airport project profile
- Airport Technology — New Heraklion International Airport
- A90 motorway — route and junctions
This page will change a great deal between now and the opening. If you spot something out of date, tell us and we will fix it.