Where a Helicopter May Land in Greece
A helicopter in Greece lands at approved sites, with permission, and by day. It operates to airports, to licensed heliports and to private sites that meet the requirements of the European air operations rules and Greek law, and every one of them needs prior permission from whoever runs it. A villa pad becomes a landing site by being assessed and permitted, not by being flat and empty. That network puts islands with no airport, such as Sifnos, Folegandros and Koufonisia, within an hour of Athens.
Three kinds of place
A helicopter in Greece lands in one of three kinds of place. The difference between them is a matter of permits rather than of the ground itself.
Airports come first. Every airport that takes aeroplanes also takes helicopters, under the same coordination and with the same ground handling.
Licensed heliports are the second kind. They are sites set up and permitted for helicopter use, and they are how islands with no runway are reached at all.
Private sites are the third: a pad at a house, an estate or a hotel, or a yacht’s helideck, assessed and permitted for the purpose.
A field, a headland, a terrace or a beach that happens to be flat is none of these. The aircraft can land there, but whether it may land there is a separate question.
What the law asks of a landing site
The rules are European and Greek together.
Operators choose and use landing sites under CAT.OP.MPA.105 of Commission Regulation (EU) No 965/2012, and under Article 12 of Presidential Decree 19/2009. The operational detail is published in AIP Greece, the national aeronautical information publication, which carries the procedures for the sites themselves, private heliports included.
The Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority set out what it expects of operators and flight crews in safety notice SIAN 02-2022. The notice requires them to follow those provisions and the AIP’s air traffic instructions. It also tells operators to treat commercial pressure as a safety hazard to be monitored. Anybody who has pressed a pilot to fly should read that line twice.
A new pad has to meet the authority’s requirements before it becomes a site. That process takes time, and July is not the month to start it.
Permission belongs to the site, not to the pilot
Every landing needs prior permission from whoever operates the place. A private pad also needs the written authorisation of its owner.
This has a consequence that people find surprising. A helicopter company can confirm that an aircraft is available and still be unable to confirm that you may land where you want to. Those are two separate permissions from two separate parties, and only one of them belongs to the operator.
The same applies to a yacht. A helideck landing is at the vessel’s discretion and on its terms, and it is a much more demanding operation than landing on a pad ashore.
Daylight
These flights are day operations. They are planned and flown between dawn and dusk, and in practice that sets the limit of every helicopter itinerary in Greece.
A dinner on another island that ends at midnight cannot end with a helicopter flight. Either the aircraft leaves before dusk or the night is spent where the dinner is. It is far better to know which before the invitation goes out.
What the aircraft is really for
The case for a helicopter in Greece rests on reaching places with no airport, rather than on speed between airports.
Licensed sites across the Cyclades put islands with no runway within a short flight of Athens. They include Sifnos, Folegandros, Amorgos, Koufonisia, Schinoussa, Antiparos and Anafi, among others. The alternative is a flight to the nearest airport and then a boat that runs on its own schedule and stops running when the wind gets up.
That is also where the argument ends. Where a good runway exists and the party is large, an aircraft that carries everybody in one movement is usually the better answer. The guide to runways in the Greek islands sets out which islands have one.
What to settle before counting on one
- Whether the intended landing site is an approved site, and who operates it. Ask for a name, not an assurance.
- Who gives permission, and whether it has been given for your date rather than in principle.
- The last departure of the day, worked back from dusk rather than from dinner.
- What happens in wind. On some days a helicopter is more limited by the weather than a boat, and on others less. The operator will tell you which, if asked.
- Where the baggage goes. On a summer flight from a short site, the weight the aircraft can carry is the limit nobody thinks to raise until everyone is standing by the aircraft.