Athens Welcomes Airport City Conference

Many airport city concepts were developed and discussed at the annual “Airport Cities World Conference & Exhibition,” which took place for the first time in Athens on 27-29 April.

Athens International Airport Eleftherios Venizelos hosted this year’s conference, which focused on the evolution of modern airports in the area of economic and business development and analyzed the worldwide dynamic of the model “airport city.”

On behalf of Athens International Airport, the chief executive officer of AIA, Dr. Yiannis Paraschis, presented Greece’s airport and underlined that it is a major business engine for the Greek economy.

“At Athens International Airport we have developed an airport city named ‘Polis’ (city in Greek), which reflects the principals of sustainability and environmental care, while offering services and state-of-the-art facilities in an attractive business environment,” Dr. Paraschis said.

Dr. Paraschis characterized Eleftherios Venizelos as a “socio-economic driver for national growth” due to the conclusions of a recent study of the Economic University of Athens. According to the study, AIA has created 63,000 jobs at a national level–a figure that represents 1,3% of the national workforce.

As for the airport’s contribution to tourism, the study showed that 21 percent (2,3 million in 2007) of the total of foreign tourists come to Greece through Eleftherios Venizelos and spend some 4.1 billion euros (an equivalent to 1,8 percent of the country’s GDP).

New airport cities were discussed during the conference and insight was given on the construction of an airport city in the 21st century.

The event attracted about 500 top-level delegates and 50 exhibitors. The format included a two-day conference and exhibition, a gala evening and a tour of Athens International Airport.