"The progress that has been made is impressive" said the prime minister who explained that "we are talking about the biggest construction site at the moment in our country, we are talking about one of the biggest airports being built in Europe, an airport which will eventually be bigger than this which was initially foreseen. And that's because we have to anticipate and take into account the very positive developments that have taken place since the airport was originally designed."
The delivery schedule for the construction phase of the project was recently changed with a new agreement ratified by Parliament, extending the overall deadline by 24 months from the originally planned delivery of the project in late 2025.
The new contract refers to the execution of additional works, and the required changes to the budget and schedule of the construction period of the Concession Contract.
With these changes, the public service areas in the airport's main building increase from the 68,000 square meters that were originally planned, to 91,000 square meters, as well as the aircraft parking areas. These changes were deemed necessary as according to the model submitted to the ministry, it appears that in twenty-five years, Kastelli Airport should be able to host fourteen million visitors out of the 10 million for which it was originally designed.
The cost for the above design changes amounts to €105 million and raises the state participation to €385 million.
