From 23 September to 4 November, and again from 19 December to 17 February 2027, Athens International Airport will operate with ‘intensive and continuous use of a specific runway around the clock’ due to runway works. These dates were made public by the Municipality of Markopoulo-Mesogaia, in a letter from the mayor, Konstantinos Allagiannis, to the airport management, based on the information received by the council. It has not yet been publicly announced which of the two runways will handle the traffic.
For the homes around the airport, this means that the same neighbourhoods will hear almost every aircraft movement, day and night, for six weeks now and for a further two months in winter. Markopoulos’s letter places particular emphasis on the night-time disturbance and requests specific details: the estimated number of daytime and night-time flights, particularly between 23:00 and 06:00; the breakdown of arrivals and departures by runway and time zone; the flight paths to be followed by aircraft and measures to ensure that noise is not concentrated over residential areas; continuous recording and publication of noise levels; and a clear procedure for investigating complaints.
The mayor is also requesting a working meeting attended by the council’s three special advisers and a public briefing for residents prior to the first phase of the works, giving them the opportunity to put questions to the airport and the relevant authorities. According to the local authority, classifying the works as urgent cannot replace timely information and dialogue with the communities located next to the airport. The first phase began on 23 September. The airport’s response to the letter has not been published.
Markopoulos’s move did not come out of the blue. On 8 July, the Single-Member Court of First Instance of Athens (judgement 3966/2026) granted an application for interim measures filed by, amongst others, the municipalities of Markopoulo and Spata–Artemida, ‘Environmental Harmony’ and local residents. It ordered the Civil Aviation Authority to put in place, within four months, a monitoring mechanism to ensure compliance with the NADP-A low-noise take-off procedure and the ban on the use of maximum reverse thrust, with penalties for infringements, and set a fine of 10,000 euros for non-compliance. The court ruled that instantaneous noise emissions exceeding 70 dB, even if they do not breach the statutory limits, constitute a serious form of environmental pollution. The deadline runs from the date the judgement was served; if service took place during the summer, it expires during the first phase of the works.
Artemida already accounts for the largest share of complaints. The airport’s noise report for July 2026 recorded a total of eight complaints, all three of which came from Artemida – more than from any other individual area. Eight complaints in an entire month is a mere fraction of what residents describe, and this is the crux of the matter: anything that is not recorded does not appear in the reports used by the airport, local councils and the courts.
The Municipality of Spata–Artemida was involved in the same court proceedings as Markopoulo, but has not made any such intervention public regarding this specific construction period, nor is there any relevant announcement on its website. The petition, bearing 114 residents’ signatures and concerning aircraft noise, which was submitted on 10 July, had not been discussed by the Municipal Council by the time of the meeting on 8 September.
How to make a complaint: the airport operates a 24-hour ‘We’re Listening’ helpline on 210 3530003 and accepts complaints via NoiseComplaints@aia.gr. Please note the exact time, your address and, if possible, whether it was during take-off or landing. Complaints are included in the monthly noise reports published by the airport.
Source: Municipality of Markopoulo-Mesogaias, letter from the mayor to Athens International Airport (September 2026); Athens Single-Judge Court of First Instance, judgment 3966/2026 (8 July 2026); Athens International Airport, Environmental Management System page and noise report, July 2026.
