Heraklion International Nikos Kazantzakis Airport

The airport opens in March 1939 on flat agricultural land; the first aircraft to bring passengers is a Junkers Ju 52.

The airfield becomes a battleground during the German airborne invasion of Crete in World War II.

Civilian flights resume in autumn 1946 using Douglas DC-3 aircraft; a first small terminal is built in 1947 and Hellenic Airlines begins scheduled service in 1948.

A paved 1,850-metre runway (09/27) is constructed, enabling larger aircraft such as the DC-4 from 1954 and DC-6 from 1957 under Olympic Airways.

Following a 1968–1971 rebuild that extended the runway to 2,680 metres and added new terminal facilities, the modernized airport is officially inaugurated on 5 May 1972; it had received its first international charter flight the previous year.

A further expansion project, begun in 2017, is completed on 30 March 2018 ahead of the peak summer tourist season, adding capacity to handle Crete's growing charter and low-cost traffic.

Heraklion airport is scheduled to cease operations once the much larger new Kastelli Airport, roughly 39 km southeast, opens to replace it — a long-delayed project whose exact completion date has shifted repeatedly.