Paros: €45.41 million for airport upgrade

According to a Cyclades24 report of Thursday, 24 September 2026, €45.41 million has been committed for the full upgrade of Paros airport. This amount, as the report states, covers the entirety of the upgrade project rather than isolated intervention in a single piece of infrastructure; however, the report does not specify which body committed to providing this funding, nor does it indicate whether it comes from national, European, or mixed sources. Paros airport has operated in its current form since 2016, when it replaced an earlier facility, and is one of the main entry gateways to one of the busiest destinations in the Cyclades, both for visitors and for permanent residents of the island.

According to the report, the runway is planned to be extended from 1,400 to 1,799 metres, that is, by approximately 400 metres compared to its current length. Beyond the runway extension, the project includes, as stated in the same report, the construction of a new terminal building, a new control tower, and a new fire station. This represents an intervention that is not limited to flight infrastructure but extends to passenger services, air traffic management, and safety of flight operations at the airport, according to the Cyclades24 account.

Runway length determines to a large extent the type of aircraft that can be served at an airport and, by extension, the duration and intensity of air connections between an island and the rest of the country and abroad. A possible extension such as that described in the report could affect how the tourism season is organized on Paros, both in terms of the number and type of flights served and the window within which air traffic to the island can realistically extend. At the same time, permanent residents of the island often link airport adequacy to matters of daily life beyond tourism, such as travel outside the tourist season, access to services not available locally, and patient transfers to hospitals on the mainland, for which the reliability, frequency, and ability to serve flights in difficult weather conditions hold particular weight.

The Cyclades24 report states that work on the broader project began on 11 January 2023, with September 2028 set as the target for completion of the upgrade—a period of approximately two years from September 2026 and a total of around five years and eight months from the start of work on the broader project. The report does not specify details such as the project contractor, the number or status of any related tender, the individual timeline of construction phases, nor does it provide passenger movement statistics or the number of flights. Until an official announcement comes from the competent authority, the information remains as presented in the 24 September 2026 report, and TodayGrid will return with updated details on the progress of the project on Paros.