The Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Christos Staikouras met in Rhodes with the General Director of Operations of Fraport, Mr. Spyrato, the President of the Union of Air Traffic Controllers of Greece, Mr. Psaros and representatives of foreign airlines, with the aim of facilitating passengers and the smooth operation of “Diagoras” Airport, given the conditions created by the fire that broke out on the island in the previous days.

It is noted that the airport operates with increased passenger traffic at the peak of the tourist season, serving at the same time many aerial firefighting flights.
In total yesterday, Saturday, 356 movements were made with the movement of 50,000 passengers, while today, Sunday, until 16:00, 165 movements were made with the movement of 20,000 passengers. This number will more than double in the coming hours as passenger traffic increases.

There are quite a few tourists who flocked to the airport to travel earlier than the scheduled departure time and day.

In cooperation with the two companies that handle the largest volume of passengers in Rhodes, TUI and Jet2, the next flights are scheduled.

In particular, the measures decided in the meeting with the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Christos Staikouras, to facilitate the passengers are as follows:

1. In the following hours, namely until 03:00 am. 14 flights with approximately 2,700 passengers will depart from the two companies. In total, until 00:00 AM, there will be 44 flights, departures and arrivals, with approximately 14,500 passengers.

2. Repatriation Flights: All flights of both companies arriving at the island will arrive empty in order to pick up passengers.

3. Create a “Help Center”: Assistance and processing of passengers without the necessary travel documents. The said center is staffed by representatives of embassies and the Police.

4. Pgranting meal vouchers to waiting passengers. In addition, with the assistance of the Municipality, 300 additional seats were provided at the airport to deal with the increased and emergency needs.

5. Activating the Crisis Management Centerwith representatives of the airlines and ground handling operators for the immediate and better facilitation of all passengers.

6. After communication with the ground handling operators, the staff at the airport is reinforced to better serve the passengers.

7. Air Traffic Control has taken all the necessary measures for the orderly operation of the increased flight traffic.

The implementation of all the above measures will be monitored by the Crisis Management Center at the airport, in which the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Christos Staikouras, will participate in physical presence.