So far, the official publications for LGPA (new) state “NIL” for customs/immigration.
However, when I was at the old Paros airport in May, the local CAA officer told me that mid-term, the new airport would be upgraded to an “international” airport.
That’s what was told for Megara also. But it never happened. I think that the “Airport of Entry” regulation is treally a bad thing, especially when you come from a Schengen country. And what’s really upsetting is that (the last tine) nobody wanted to see my passport (“not necessary, you come from a Schengen country”)
Greece does not operate Schengen. They joined up at the height of the “EU = €€€ = a big Mexican party = lots of €€€ for everybody = lots of bribes” euphoria, like all of southern Europe did or wants to 
but Greece never operated the system, largely due to the difficulties with their unusual border situation.
Paros doesn’t need C/I if it hosts only the usual twin turboprop flights from Athens, which go around all the Greek island airports. But obviously the new runway is not just for that… the Q is how long does it take to establish airline traffic to a new destination? I don’t know but it may not happen this holiday season. Easyjet etc need time to gear up, with all the tour operators they have links with, etc.
Megara does not have overseas airline traffic. That goes to Athens LGAV.
What sort of IAP is Paros going to have?
In fact, the story around the new Paros airport is even a bit more interesting, or at least so I was told.
If you look at the new plates, you see that the runway is 1600 meters long. That is just a little bit too short for unstricticted operations of the most common holiday bombers (i.e. 737 and A320), which, AFAIK, for regulation’s sake, need a runway of about 1900 meters at least.
Building a new “holiday tourism airport” and making the runway 1600 meters long, despite there being enough space, sounds crazy. Apparently, so I was was told, there was some local opposition to the new airport and the island becoming “just another Mykonos”. Hence, they objected to a bigger runway. What was done (to satisfy the naysaysers) was to build this 1600 metre-runway, but they did it in a way that a future extension would be rather trivial. Politics at work, even on this little greek Island…
@milatos
Great photos! I was planning to slow the Rallye down and open the canopy so that my wife could take better pictures, but a friend called and said she’d had a dream of my opening the canopy and having everything fly out, including paper, maps and my wife’s camera! “It was like a cartoon. You didn’t have an accident,” she said, “but don’t open the canopy!”
For completeness, this is the departure video, runway 35:
I decided to make a left turn and then head E-NE overflying Naxos island in order to stay away from Mykonos TMA and make an unobstructed climb to FL95. It was also nice for sightseeing.
boscomantico wrote:
since everything is PPR in Greece.
That is wrong information. PPRs are required in busy/popular airports of Greece with limited apron space.
NOTAMs (for each) indicate if a PPR/PNR is needed.
boscomantico wrote:
In fact, the story around the new Paros airport is even a bit more interesting, or at least so I was told.
From what I hear the story is different and much simpler.
The SITE (and nearby properties on runway axis) is/are ample enough for expansion to a longer runway in the class of 1900m+ in future decades.
There was simply not FUNDING available at this time for a larger installation.
Don’t forget also that an airport is not only the runway; a flock of B738s and A320s arriving need the equivalent provisions in
- Apron
- Feeder roadworks
- Landside car (buses) parking
- Terminal building facilities for simultaneous arrivals and departures of hundreds of passengers
and so on …
The new airport of Paros (the terminal actually) was only managed to be completed by private (user airline) funding.
If it weren’t for that input the airport would be still “under construction”.
Also don’t forget that Paros in not an island with facilities that can host tourists traffic in the scale of a 2000m runway.
Yes I believe part of the story is what you mention about “not another Mykonos” but primarily it was a funding issue at this stage.
Indeed the old airport was really cute but it posed serious constraints to the loaded Dash 100’s in summer months with 700m upslope runway.
There were many cases often of luggage being left behind or half (aircraft) capacity bookings being available simply on Take Off Weight basis.
the primary reason for the new airport was just this. A fully loaded Dash Q400 has no issues nowadays from the new airport.
A landing of mine there (old airport) two years ago:
Well my plane is at Naxos, & we are having a good time with bike rides along the coast and hikes to churches in the interior. I was rerouted out of Thessaloniki with longer overwater stretches. It was a VFR day (8-9 am local time) but once out of sight of land, effectively IMC. No horizon line, perfect blending of sea and sky at 3500 feet cruising altitude. With islands in sight, no problem. I would have thought Meltemi wind would disperse haze, but that’s not the case. For overwater stretches, VFR pilots should be confident about instrument flying en route, otherwise you can find yourself in trouble.
Naxos was good about giving us a late arrival (10 mins after closing).
