Departure
96%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Kos International Airport "Ippokratis" (LGKO) serves the Greek holiday island of Kos, lying near Antimachia village in the south-west of the island. It is a single-runway, Fraport-operated field that handles heavy seasonal charter traffic from across Europe, making it a busy and instructive destination for the simulator pilot despite its modest general-aviation facilities.
Kos Airport, officially named for the ancient physician Hippocrates, is the main air gateway to the island of Kos in the Dodecanese. It is operated by Fraport Greece under a long-term concession covering fourteen regional Greek airports, and it functions primarily as a charter and holiday destination, with peak summer traffic dominated by British and German airlines alongside scheduled domestic services. For a sim pilot, the single long runway, the lack of a parallel taxiway and the busy mixed jet traffic during the summer season make it an interesting single-runway international field to fly into.
The airport lies near Antimachia village in the central-southern part of Kos, roughly 22 to 26 kilometres south-west of Kos Town, the island's capital. It sits within Greek airspace served by its own approach and tower frequencies, reflecting its status as an international airport handling both scheduled and charter jet traffic.
Kos has a single physical runway, 14/32, of 7,835 feet in length with a hard surface and runway lighting. There is no ILS approach published for the field.
Radio services are provided under the callsign Ippokratis, with Ippokratis Radio available on the air-ground frequency 563.7 MHz. Approach is on 119.95 MHz, the ATIS broadcasts on 126.95 MHz, and Ippokratis Tower operates on 121.05 MHz.
Kos Airport has no parallel taxiway alongside its single runway; aircraft taxi to the runway end and use a designated turning pad to backtrack and line up for departure, a procedure worth anticipating when planning ground movements at the field.
The airport is located close to Antimachia village, with Kardamena also nearby, and these settlements serve as useful visual references when approaching the field from over the island.
Kos Airport opened on 4 April 1964. Its runway was extended to 2,400 metres in 1974 to accommodate growing traffic, and a new terminal was built in 1980, followed by a renovation and expansion of the terminal building in 1997. In December 2015 the privatisation of Kos Airport, together with thirteen other regional Greek airports, was finalised through an agreement between the Fraport AG/Copelouzos Group joint venture and the Greek state privatisation fund, with the joint venture taking over operation of the airports for 40 years from 11 April 2017. Following the handover, Fraport implemented improvements to lighting, airside marking, sanitary facilities, Wi-Fi and fire safety, alongside longer-term plans for a new terminal and fire station.
Kos Airport today is operated by Fraport Greece and serves as a focus city for Aegean Airlines, alongside a wide range of scheduled and seasonal charter carriers connecting the island to destinations across Europe, particularly Germany and the United Kingdom. Traffic peaks strongly in the summer season, when the airport handles substantial charter volumes bringing holidaymakers to the island, while winter operations are limited mainly to domestic connections such as Athens and Thessaloniki.