Chania airport - CHQ

Chania International Airport, "Ioannis Daskalogiannis" (IATA: CHQ, ICAO: LGSA) is an international airport located near Souda Bay on the peninsula of Akrotiri, 15 km from the city of Chania. It is named after Ioannis Daskalogiannis, Crete's most famous rebel against Ottoman rule in the 18th century.

There is a very reduced public bus service between the city of Chania and the airport, only 2 or 3 per day, so the best way to get there if you don't have a car is by taxi. The taxi stand is located right in front of the airport and there is generally no waiting time to get a taxi. It will cost about 18 to 20 Euro (2009 prices) to get to the airport from the city centre or vice versa.

If you come by car and want to park it you have three options:

• Leave it on the approch road to the airport. It is still legal but may very well change in the near future. (see first photo from the left below)
• Park at the central car park. Right opposite the aiport entrance it is the most expensive option (see price list below - 2nd photo from the left - 2009 price list)
• Park at the car park located about 100 m outside the airport. Substantially cheaper than the central car park and it has a car / minibus shuttle to the airport. (see price list below 3rd photo from the left, 2009 prices and its location 4th photo from the left).

Chania airport is not as busy as Heraklion airport but it still handles about 1.5 million passengers a year. Domestic flights (to Athens and a few to Thessaloniki) run throughout the year (there are about 6 to 10 Athens flights a day run by Olympic Airlines and Aegean Airlines).

Most charter flights to European destinations run from late April or early May to the end of October.

Check-in time for domestic flights is 60 minutes but you'll get away with 30 minutes and even less.

Check-in times for charter flights are generally 2 hours but check with your airline.

The airport operations office telephone is 28210 83800 or 28210 83803.

Services inside the airport are limited to say the least: there is no café or restaurant where you can sit down, only a counter selling beverages and sandwiches. There is also a shop selling Cretan products as well as a newsagent. And that's it apart from car rental agency offices.

If your plane is delayed and you want to sit somewhere and maybe eat something you will need to walk out of the airport to the café located about 100 metres away from the entrance.