Heraklion: green light for new radar at airport

The Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, together with the Civil Aviation Authority, approved credits for the procurement of new terminal area radar systems, according to a report by CRETA24 on August 18, 2026. The total budget for the procurement amounts to EUR 9,380,000 and covers five locations: Heraklion’s “Nikos Kazantzakis” Airport, Thessaloniki, Rhodes, Corfu, and Andravida. These are systems described internationally as Terminal Area Radar (TAR), which is to say radar for terminal airspace, and which serve a specific component of air traffic control.

The difference from en route radar systems lies in function. En route radars monitor aircraft moving at high altitudes and great distances, covering extensive areas with lower resolution and less frequent image updates. Terminal area radar covers the zone around an airport, where aircraft descend, enter an approach sequence, depart, and turn. In this zone distances between aircraft are smaller and course changes are more frequent, so the controller needs more precise and more frequently updated position data. The stated aim of the procurement is precisely this: more precise position imagery of aircraft around those specific airports.

For Heraklion the choice is not arbitrary. The “N. Kazantzakis” airport carries heavy traffic at the height of summer, with dense arrival and departure schedules compressed into specific hours of the day, as it serves the bulk of tourist traffic to central and eastern Crete. The more dense the traffic in the terminal area, the greater the importance of the quality of the data the controller has before him, both for safety and for flow—that is, for the waiting time of aircraft in the air and on the ground. Heraklion Airport also serves flights to and from the other islands and the mainland throughout the year.

According to the same report, the process was accelerated following the outage in the Athens FIR in early January 2026, which exposed the system’s dependence on existing equipment. The approval of credits represents the first formal step and precedes the competitive procedure, the award, and installation—stages for which no timeline has been announced. Neither the allocation of the amount per airport nor the timing for activation of the system in Heraklion has been disclosed. Until then control in the terminal area continues with existing equipment, and no operational problems have been reported at the city’s airport. The approval is significant from a safety and operations perspective, yet the concrete benefits will not materialize until installation is complete, an outcome that will depend on vendor availability and procedural timelines.

Related stories:

• Heraklion section
• Infrastructure projects in Crete
• Airport operations and safety