Mykonos: licence for a private helipad at Elia

The Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority has granted a licence for the establishment and operation of a private helipad in the area of Elia, at Ano Mera on Mykonos. The facility bears the name “Myconian Elia” and its operator is the company Atlantida SA. According to the licensing details, the helipad may receive helicopters with an overall length of up to 13 metres, while its operation is permitted only during daylight hours and under visual flight rules. The facility occupies a privately owned, fenced plot, with a safety zone 26 metres in diameter around the landing point. The limit on helicopter length and the ban on night flights are standard conditions for private sites of this category.

The process was not a short one. It began in 2023 and involved successive checks on land uses, the archaeological record of the area, the forest status of the land and environmental commitments, before concluding with a final inspection in December 2025. The helipad is intended to serve flights by the company and by approved persons, and not flights for the general public, a feature that distinguishes private landing sites from commercial aviation infrastructure. Elia lies on the south-eastern side of the island and is home to a significant number of high-end tourist establishments, with access from Chora by way of the Ano Mera road network.

Air transport has for years been part of the tourist model of Mykonos, with helicopter flights to and from Athens and the neighbouring islands increasing during the high season. At the same time, low flights over inhabited areas and protected landscapes have repeatedly provoked reactions in the Cyclades: earlier in August a pilot was called upon to explain a flight over Sarakiniko on Milos, as TodayGrid recorded in the report “Milos: pilot to explain Sarakiniko flight”. The issue is not only noise, but also the compatibility of the flight paths with Natura network areas and with densely built settlements.

The licence concerns the operation of the facility and not the number of flights, which is determined by the approved flight plans and the air traffic rules in force. No date for the start of operations has been announced, nor any figures for the expected traffic. More from the island on the Mykonos page. The question of transport infrastructure on Mykonos remains open, since the airport and the port operate at their limits for at least four months of the year. At the same time, the municipality and the region have been discussing for years the expansion of the airport and the management of traffic at the old and the new port.