Heraklion International Airport (HER) Technical PMO Support for Flight Procedures and Airspace Design

Overview

Airport Gurus provided independent technical PMO support for the redesign of airspace and flight procedures for the new International Airport Heraklion Crete, developed to replace the existing Nikos Kazantzakis Airport. The engagement supported a complex operational environment involving both civil and military operations, each with dedicated runway infrastructure.

The assignment focused on providing independent technical oversight throughout procurement and design, ensuring regulatory alignment, operational feasibility, and consistency across all phases of airspace and flight procedure development in this safety‑critical program.

Project Details

The development of the new International Airport Heraklion Crete required a complete redesign of airspace structures and the development of Performance‑Based Navigation flight procedures to support future airport operations. The new airport is being developed to replace the existing Nikos Kazantzakis Airport and is based on an operational concept that includes separate runways for civil and military use. This dual‑use configuration introduced additional complexity in airspace structuring, coordination requirements, and performance targets.

Airport Gurus supported the airport concessionaire by acting as an independent technical advisor throughout the procurement and design phases of the airspace and flight procedures program. The role focused on reinforcing governance and supporting informed decision‑making during a safety‑critical and highly regulated design process. Airport Gurus provided technical evaluation of tender submissions to support a transparent and robust designer selection process and reviewed proposed methodologies to ensure consistency across successive design stages.

Throughout the design lifecycle, Airport Gurus performed technical reviews of airspace design and PBN flight procedure deliverables, with particular attention to operational feasibility, regulatory alignment, and consistency between the Concept of Operations, conceptual design assumptions, and detailed technical outputs. The team also assessed the alignment between the project’s capacity objectives, targeting up to forty‑eight air traffic movements per hour, and the feasibility of the proposed procedural design within a combined civil and military operating environment.

By providing independent technical oversight at key project milestones, Airport Gurus helped reduce regulatory and operational risk, identify potential compliance and integration challenges at an early stage, and increase overall confidence in the airspace and flight procedure solutions developed for the new airport.

Project Start

2022

Client

International Airport Heraklion Crete

Scope of Service

• Technical evaluation of tender proposals
• Regulatory framework alignment review
• Airspace design deliverable review
• PBN flight procedure technical review

Region

Europe