Heraklion Airport Departures & Arrivals

The board on this page shows departures and arrivals at Heraklion International Airport “Nikos Kazantzakis” (HER) in a window that starts three hours behind the current time and runs six hours ahead. It refreshes about once a minute and shows every time in Crete local time, EET in winter and EEST in summer. Tomorrow’s flights are not on it: for anything outside that window, check the airline timetable by flight number. Each row carries the scheduled time, the airport at the other end, the flight number, the operating airline and a status, and when a carrier files a new time the original is struck through. The search box filters the rows already loaded, so a flight number such as U24349 or a city name narrows the table straight away. This is a mirrored aviation feed rather than an official airport announcement: where it disagrees with your airline, the airline is right.

What the board shows, and what it leaves out

Each row carries the scheduled time, the date, the IATA code of the airport at the other end, the city, the flight number, the operating airline and a status. When a carrier files a revised time, the original is struck through and the new estimate appears under it.

Codeshare duplicates are filtered out, so a flight sold by three airlines under three numbers appears once, under the number of the airline actually flying it. That keeps the table readable, but it has a consequence worth knowing: the number printed on your ticket may not be the number on screen. If a codeshare number returns nothing, search by city or by the operating carrier instead.

Three fields are missing because the flight data does not publish them:

• Gate numbers. HER has 11 gates and assigns them late. Yours goes up on the screens inside the terminal, usually shortly before boarding.
• Baggage belt numbers. Shown in the reclaim hall once you have landed.
• Check-in desk numbers. Posted in the departures hall on the day of travel.

The six-hour horizon is the other limit. A flight leaving tomorrow morning will not appear on the board tonight, which is the single most common reason people think a flight has vanished. For tomorrow, or for anything further out, check the airline timetable by flight number.

How to read the status column

Feed statuses are normalised into a fixed set, so the wording is the same whichever airline filed it:

• Scheduled. Running to the filed time. A revised estimate less than 15 minutes away counts as an operational adjustment rather than a delay, and the row stays Scheduled. Fifteen minutes is the industry convention for on-time performance, which is why the line sits there.
• Delayed. The new estimate is 15 minutes or more behind schedule. Both times are visible: old struck through, new below it.
• Gate open and Boarding. Passengers are being processed at the gate.
• Gate closed and Final call. In practice, too late. Gates at HER close before push-back regardless of who is still walking towards them.
• Departed and Landed. The aircraft has left the stand or touched down. Landed is not the same as ready to collect.
• Cancelled. The flight will not operate. See the passenger rights section below before you rebook anything yourself.
• Diverted. The aircraft landed elsewhere, most often for weather or a medical case on board.

Finding one flight

The search box filters the rows currently loaded by flight number, airline name, city and IATA code. Typing a number such as U24349, a city such as Milan, or a code such as STN narrows the table straight away. It searches the loaded window only, so if a flight is outside those nine hours, no amount of typing will surface it. Switch between the departures and arrivals tabs first, then search.

Departures: the number that actually matters

The board tells you whether your flight is on time. It does not tell you when to leave your hotel, and that is where most missed flights are actually lost.

Working baselines at HER: two hours before a Schengen departure, three hours before a non-Schengen one, and another 30 to 60 minutes on top in July and August. Airport bag drop commonly closes around 45 minutes before departure on short-haul routes, which is earlier than online check-in: Aegean, for instance, keeps online check-in open until 30 minutes before while its counters have long shut. The timing guide works through this resort by resort, including the hour you need to add from the eastern beaches.

The extra hour for non-Schengen flights is not padding. Since 2026, travellers from outside the EU are registered in the Entry/Exit System at the desk, with fingerprints and a facial image, and that has lengthened queues at passport control. Everyone also passes the central security screening, which runs eight lanes for the whole airport.

Once you are airside there is one compact terminal to wait in, with duty free, cafes and restaurants and three lounges. Check your baggage allowance before you leave for the airport rather than at the desk, where fixing it costs the most.

Arrivals: timing a pickup

Watch the estimate rather than the scheduled time, then add ground time after Landed appears. A passenger off a Schengen flight walks straight to reclaim. A passenger arriving from outside the Schengen Area clears passport control first, and in summer several flights land within minutes of each other into a single terminal, so belts and desks queue together.

The car park is the practical place to wait. The first 15 to 20 minutes are free, it is barrier-controlled and open around the clock, and it is a two to three minute walk from the terminal doors, with no shuttle involved. The kerbside drop-off lane is a live lane and cars are moved on, so waiting there for a delayed flight does not work. Rates and layout are on the parking page.

If you are not driving, the taxi rank and the bus stop are both a couple of minutes from the arrivals exit: a taxi into the city centre runs about €19 by day and €22 at night, and the city bus costs €1.30 bought in advance or €2.30 from the driver. The full picture is on the transport page.

Why the times move here in summer

HER handled 10,033,151 passengers in 2025, its first year above ten million, after 9,384,233 in 2024 and 8,723,031 in 2023. That makes it the second busiest airport in Greece behind Athens, and almost all of that traffic is compressed into a season: international routes build through spring, peak in July and August, and fall away for winter, when domestic services to Athens carry the airport.

Delay behaviour follows from how aircraft are used. A single airframe may fly four or more legs in a day through Crete, so an hour lost at breakfast in northern Europe tends to arrive at Heraklion by mid-afternoon and grow through the evening rotations. This is why an evening departure can sit at Scheduled while the airport around it runs late. If that is your flight, open the arrivals tab: the aircraft has to land before it can leave, and the inbound estimate is usually the better predictor.

Winter reverses the picture. The international rows thin out to a handful of European cities, the board gets short, and delays become the exception rather than the pattern. If you are choosing between Crete's two airports for a winter trip, the comparison with Chania sets out the route networks.

If your flight is delayed or cancelled

Departing from an EU airport puts you under EU air passenger rights whichever airline you are flying, including non-EU carriers. The entitlements are worth knowing before you accept a voucher at a desk.

• Care while you wait begins at two hours for short flights, three for medium and four for long: meals and refreshments in proportion to the wait, two phone calls or emails, and accommodation with transfers if you are held overnight.
• Compensation is €250 for flights of 1,500 km or less, €400 for flights within the EU over 1,500 km and for other flights between 1,500 and 3,500 km, and €600 beyond that outside the EU. Nearly everything leaving Heraklion falls into the first two bands.
• The trigger is arrival, not departure. Compensation follows from reaching your final destination three hours or more late, so a long delay that is partly clawed back in the air may fall below the line.
• Cancellation gives you a choice between a refund and re-routing, plus compensation when you were told less than 14 days in advance.
• Extraordinary circumstances such as severe weather or an air traffic control strike remove the compensation, but not the airline's duty to feed you, re-route you or refund you.

Keep the boarding pass and take a screenshot of the board showing the status and time. Claims fail on missing evidence far more often than on the rules themselves. The official summary is on the European Commission's Your Europe pages.

Which airlines you will see on the board

Aegean Airlines is the largest operator, with its subsidiary Olympic Air on domestic routes. On the last published market shares, which date from 2022, it held roughly 40% of traffic and Ryanair and easyJet together about 30%; nothing more recent has been released. By summer 2026 route counts the spread is wider, with Corendon, Jet2 and Volotea each running a dozen or more routes of their own. Sky Express flies domestic and regional routes, and Bluebird Airways is based at Heraklion itself. In season the board fills with charter and leisure carriers, among them TUI, Jet2, Condor, Eurowings and Wizz Air, between them serving more than 120 destinations across around 30 countries. The airlines page breaks down who flies where.

One note on ownership, because it is a common mix-up: Heraklion is a state airport operated by HASP, and it is not part of the Fraport Greece concession that runs 14 other Greek airports, Chania among them.

When the board and your airline disagree

Believe the airline. A feed of this kind mirrors what carriers and airports publish and inherits every lag in that chain, so a schedule change made in an airline system can take time to reach it. Before you leave for the airport, check the airline app or website; on the day of a disruption, check both. This site is an independent guide to HER and has no operational role at the airport, which also means it cannot rebook you, trace a bag or confirm a gate.

Frequently asked questions

How often does this flight board update?
About once a minute. Each refresh pulls the current state of the feed, so a status can change between one look and the next during a disruption.

Can I see tomorrow's flights here?
No. The board covers three hours back and six hours forward from now, so tomorrow's departures appear only once they fall inside that window. Use the airline timetable for anything further ahead.

Why does the board not show my gate?
The flight data does not include gate numbers, and HER assigns its 11 gates late in any case. Watch the screens inside the terminal after security.

What does a struck-through time mean?
The airline filed a new estimate at least 15 minutes away from the original. The old time is struck through and the revised one appears below it.

Are the times local?
Yes, all times are Crete local time, EET in winter and EEST in summer. That is the same clock the airport and your boarding pass use.

Is this the official Heraklion Airport flight board?
No. This is an independent guide to the airport, not the airport's own service, and the times come from a third-party aviation feed. For anything binding, use your airline.

How early should I be at the airport?
Two hours before a Schengen flight, three hours before a non-Schengen one, and add 30 to 60 minutes in July and August. Bag drop often closes around 45 minutes before departure.

My flight was delayed by four hours. Am I owed anything?
If you reached your final destination three or more hours late and the cause was not extraordinary, compensation from a Heraklion departure is normally €250 or €400 depending on distance. Meals and refreshments are due from the second or third hour of waiting regardless of cause.