A 95-million-euro expansion program at Thessaloniki’s Macedonia Airport begins this week, with newly upgraded taxiing runways ready by the end of the year.

 The specific airport, in fact, will account for 25 percent of Fraport Greece’s budget for upgrades at all 14 regional airports that it manages.

The highlight in the upgrade for Thessaloniki’s airport is a new terminal, which, however, will have to await a demining operation on the site where the facility will be built. The area where Thessaloniki’s airport stands today, and adjoining land tracts, was heavily bombed during WWII.

Extending runway 10-28, for instance, has been plagued by the presence of mines. That project dates back to 1997; was tendered in 2005 and set for delivery in 2017, although construction continues.

A new completion date is end of 2018.