In the area of the old Athens airport "Ellinikon" found 314 German aviation bombs, left over from the Second World War, announced the mayor of the Elinikon-Argiroupoli municipality, Yanis Konstantatos, after today's meeting with members of the Greek Battalion for demining.
This battalion has been examining the area of the former airport for a long time, as well as its surroundings, due to the new urban plan, according to which a completely new and modern neighborhood will be built on this area. Something like Belgrade on the water, only significantly larger.
No one could have imagined so many explosives
"The tragedy is that 314 bombs, which the Germans stored, were 2 meters directly under the former facilities of the Pond Union, our kindergartens and sports facilities, which were located inside the former airport, as well as next to the Olympic complex! In places where thousands of people entered every day!” said the mayor of Elinikon-Argiroupoli, Yiannis Konstandatos.
According to him, no one could have imagined so many explosives.
"Thank God, there was never any damage or explosion, while it is truly incredible how the entire airport and dozens of municipal and other facilities operated in this minefield," said the mayor and thanked the soldiers who are now cleaning the area around their houses, 80 years later .
This is followed by the demining of explosive devices, which is why, according to Konstandatos, the citizens of this part of the Greek capital are upset.
Military base
The construction of Elinikon airport began in 1938, but the project was never completed. Greece's entry into the Second World War stopped the original plans.
During the occupation, the Germans accelerated the expansion of the airport for military operations, and the Allied aviation tried to prevent the completion of the work with a series of bombings. In the end, even the Germans did not spare him, who destroyed both airstrips during their retreat.
After the Second World War, the airport was reconstructed and used for military purposes during the civil war, and only after several years of war clashes in this area was it given the name "Ellinikon" (Greek), although a significant part of it was ceded for use by the USA, until in 1993.
10 to 12 million passengers passed through it annually
"Ellinikon" airport saw its shining moments with the establishment of the "Olympic" airline company owned by Aristotle Onassis, which renovated and equipped it for international commercial flights. Thus, in 1957, this airport served 500.000 passengers and 4.000 tons of cargo.
Photo: Screenshot / YouTubeLanding at Elenikon Airport
Within a few years, with the contribution of "Olympics", whose headquarters were located here, "Ellinikon" became one of the most important airports in the Mediterranean, since, along with the growth of tourism, it also functioned as a key refueling station for European flights from the Mediterranean. and the Far East.
During the 1990s, 10 to 12 million passengers passed through this airport annually.
Padlock
As Athens underwent a complete transformation ahead of the 2004 Olympic Games, the multi-million city needed a larger and more modern airport, in a more convenient location. On that occasion, the present-day "Elefterios Venizelos" airport was built from the funds of the European Union, leaving the one by the sea in the shade.
The last commercial passenger plane flew from Elinikon in 2001, to serve private planes and helicopters after the official closure, which were removed from here during the Olympics, because new facilities, dedicated to the most important competition for the Greeks, sprung up in that place.
However, the use of the Olympic complex did not last either. The space was occasionally used to hold various exhibitions, until that too was expanded.
Refuge
A large part of the old airport has been converted into an informal one since the beginning of 2016 refugee center. More than a thousand square meters were flooded by families, who were brought here because they could neither move forward nor back.
It was a refuge for 3.500 people, mostly Afghans, for whom the gates of Europe closed a few days after arriving in Greece, because their refugee status was revoked.
Divided into three camps: a hockey field, a baseball field, and the departure hall of the old airport, the refugees stayed here on their own initiative until June 2017, when they were displaced to formal refugee camps, and Ellinikon was locked again.
"Athens on the water"
Preliminary works on the area of the former Elinikon airport began in 2020, when the construction site was officially opened.
"We want the place where the planes took off to become a symbol of Greece taking off in a new era," said the CEO of "Lamda Development" Odysseus Athanasiou, not yet suspecting that everything could blow up, literally.
Athanasios then thanked the Government of Greece, as well as the main shareholder of Lamda, who conceived the project and, as he stated, supported it for seven years and showed confidence in the country and its economy, investing over 300 million euros.
The Ellinikon project includes residential buildings, shopping districts, business centers, entertainment venues, resorts, parks, marinas, educational centers. It covers an area of 6,2 million square meters, approximately three times larger than Belgrade on the water.
Three years ago, heavy construction machinery was working at "full steam" on what was announced at the time, the largest urban construction site in Europe, and today the army is doing the most work on that site, removing long-buried history.
