Chios Airport Will Close for Four Months, Leaving the Greek Island Without Scheduled Flights This Winter

Chios airport (JKH), the island’s state airport known as “Homer,” will suspend operations from the evening of Sunday, November 15, 2026, until March 15, 2027, Greece’s civil aviation authority announced on October 15. The shutdown lets contractors finish extending and upgrading the airport’s only runway.

That means four months with no scheduled passenger flights to an island in the eastern Aegean, across Christmas and New Year. Only helicopters on urgent missions will be able to use the airport, taking off and landing directly from the apron.

What the runway works involve

According to the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (HCAA), the project extends the runway to the north, to a finished length of 5,902 feet (1,799 m). The authority says the longer strip will let larger aircraft types serve the island.

Published airport data list the current runway, 01/19, at 4,957 feet (1,511 m), so the extension adds roughly 945 feet (288 m). The work is already under way: in the first phase, the airport has stayed open on a shortened runway, with flights flown by propeller aircraft carrying a limited number of passengers.

Turboprop airliners generally need less runway than jets, which is how the airport has kept a service going on the shortened strip. The second and third phases are the ones that take the runway out of use entirely.

The HCAA says the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and the authority accepted an updated proposal from the contractor that merges those two phases into four months, down from five in the original approved schedule. The contractor has also committed to try to finish by February 28, 2027.

The authority gave four reasons for the timing: protecting air links for the 2027 tourist season, limiting winter weather delays, better site organization and supervision, and a smoother technical transition. It said it aims to keep the suspension as short as possible.

The notice to airmen itself, NOTAM B1561/26, closes runway 01/19 from midnight local time between November 15 and 16, as News247 reported. It also states that its end date does not guarantee reopening and may be extended.

Why Chios is fighting the start date

The dates first surfaced on the evening of October 14, when council chair Klearchos Chrysis read out a document already sent to airlines at an emergency meeting of the Chios municipal council. Local outlet Politischios had reported the November 15 plan days earlier.

Local groups say they had been told something different. Representatives of local bodies told Euronews the original agreement was for the airport to close on January 15, not November 15, which would have kept flights running through the holidays.

The HCAA’s announcement does not mention a January date. It presents the new schedule as a shorter one: four months for the remaining work instead of five.

Chios Chamber of Commerce president Pantelis Legatos warned of the hit to holiday travel, family visits and medical appointments. He noted that the island sits about five nautical miles from the Turkish coast, which makes its air link to Athens vital for access to health care.

Mayor Giannis Malafis asked for the airport to stay open at Christmas, New Year and Easter. North Aegean regional governor Kostas Moutzouris questioned whether it will be ready even before Easter 2027.

The council voted unanimously to organize protests, recommending an island-wide shutdown and a noon rally in Vounaki Square on Monday, October 19, with a protest in Athens the next day. It will also examine legal options against the decision.

Local bodies have also asked for adequate ferry connections, help for patients, guidance for passengers with existing bookings and “verifiable milestones” for the March 15 reopening, To Vima reported. They want a meeting with the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport.

How it compares with Greece’s other runway closures

Winter runway closures have become familiar on the Greek islands, but the recent ones have been far shorter. Chios is a state airport run by the HCAA, not one of the 14 regional airports operated by Fraport Greece, which has been rebuilding its runways in stages.

In Fraport Greece’s 2025-26 program, the longest full shutdowns lasted about two weeks: Kefalonia from November 17 to December 1, 2025, Corfu from January 12 to 26, 2026, and Zakynthos from February 2 to 16, 2026.

Rhodes and Mytilene instead closed for 24 hours once a week, and both, along with Mykonos, stayed open on December 23, 24 and 31 and January 6 and 7. Fraport’s plan for this winter follows the same pattern.

The HCAA points to the runway itself. It says it applied the strictest criteria for working at an airport with a runway of limited length, and judged the suspension absolutely necessary given the size and complexity of the job.

What travelers can do

Aegean and Sky Express both sell flights to Chios, including from Athens International Airport, and Sky Express has posted a notice of the temporary closure on its Chios booking page. Anyone holding a ticket for a date inside the window should check with the airline about changes or refunds.

The main alternative is the ferry from Piraeus, near Athens. Ferry booking sites list the crossing at roughly seven to nine hours.

At the time of writing, the HCAA’s November 15 to March 15 window still stands, and it has asked airlines to plan around it.