Thessaloniki Airport

I visited the airport two months ago. The seating area was in a appalling condition. Rubbish was everywhere on the small tables. I tried to connect to the wifi but it is was not working apparently. When I asked a member of the staff I was told that I will have to go and stand by the windows and only then there were might be a remote chance to get connected to it. Most screens showing the flights gates were not in a good working condition too.

Clean - Could have more flights. Easy access to downtown. Security queuing could be ameliorated. Very good WiFi - Very good selection of food.

I read the reviews on this site before visiting the Thessaloniki airport and so had pretty low expectations for it. I have to say that those expectations were exceeded in pretty much every respect. Of course it is a small airport but signage is adequate for an English-only speaker and between those and help from the staff I found nothing confusing chaotic etc. I have not been during midday but during morning and evening in April it is very easy to navigate and I am submitting this on the airport's wireless network which I have had no problems with. The only things I've encountered that could be better are that you can only check your baggage a maximum of 2 hours before your flight and that the taxi service to/from the airport is a bit expensive (~25 Euros to warehouse district) and can be kind of slow when traffic is bad since it is not at all near the city centre.

Transited through SKG from Athens en-route to CDG. As an experienced traveler this airport has to be the most disorganized one I have ever seen. In order to check in you have to put your bag on the counter afterwards you have to take it again (as this is only done to check the weight) and leave it on another drop- off counter; there were only three of those drop-off areas for 20 counters in total so I let you imagine what it looked like with nearly all of them being used. Airport facilities are dire no exchange desk poor restaurant services very rude security agents illegible FIDS screens everything badly indicated including the flight gate. All this was pretty reminiscent of the old Athens Hellinikon airport (definitely not a compliment for those who remember it). And the whole airport hasn't changed at all since my last visit in 2010!

Thessaloniki is Greece's second city and an expanding a business and tourist city centre in its own right. With the Metro being built its potential will increase. But the airport - which is being expanded is really not geared to tourists and though above the standard of other Greek airports is inferior to what it needs to be particularly when compared to Athens. Public transport information is non-existant - the tourist office is shut most of the time and has no bus maps (Thessloniki only has buses for transport at the moment): the bus stop has most information in Greek (fine for me but for German and British travellers?). The runway is being expanded to take long haul aircraft and a new terminal is being constructed but the airport has to think it terms of being a hub with clear information if it is to compete for tourists + business travellers with Athens or Istanbul.

Airport much too small to handle size of tourist traffic and lack of flights means that business users have difficult and expensive connections usually in Germany. Long lines poor food services poor shopping. Need to get the infrastructure in SKG right or Halkidiki tourism and business in Thessaloniki will suffer.

Arrival into Thessaloniki is very good. We were quickly deplaned and went straight through immigration into baggage reclaim where our bags had arrived before we did. However when departing Thessaloniki it was a nightmare! The queue for check-in was very slow moving then we had to go to a separate desk to have our bag scanned. The duty free shop isn't worth time looking at. The new terminal that they are going to build can't come soon enough as the current terminal really lets the region of Halkidiki down.

SKG is an average regional airport with all amenities needed for a short stay. Arrival is easy I actually never even saw a custom officer. It can get packed during main holiday season (July- August). A bus brings you to/from the airplane - no stairways. Car rental is a bit south/east of the airport. Negotiate the taxi fare before you actually take one - or be prepared to pay. The air during summer is actually not too god in the terminals. Don't expect any help from airport officials if you have a question - nobody is there to answer questions. I could not find any WiFi access. I will use it again this summer