Thessaloniki Airport (SKG)
Flyctory.com Cons
- Organisational trouble
- Not really beautiful
Spending the second weekend of October 2018, I was very curious on my first flight with Aegean and also with Thessaloniki “Makedonia” Airport (SKG). The reviews of Greece third largest airport are comparably mixed, so I was interested whether I share the view of the masses or would give it a rather more positive or negative rating, based on my Aegean A320 flights between Dusseldorf and the Northern Greece metropole.



Thessaloniki Airport – Connections
The airport is quite well connected in Europe. Apart from Mediterranean connections like Beirut or Cyprus, there are no intercontinental flights, though. Of course, Thessaloniki serves as hub to reach the Greek islands – however, Athens Airport is much stronger in that.
Thessaloniki Airport – Location & Transport
Makedonia International Airport is located some 15kms South of Thessaloniki, close to the Eastbound motorways 16 and 24.
There is no rail connection or similar to the city. The public connection from Thessaloniki to the airport is bus 01X, which is taking some 45 minute to city center. The one-way fare is 2 EUR. However, it has been extremely difficult to find out the exact route of the bus via google maps or the local provider homepage. Thus, I rather went for a pre-paid and pre-ordered private service to my hotel – the taxi rides were 23 EUR each direction and took some 25 minutes each way. Of course, you end up / are picked up right at your final destination. I would recommend that option.

Arriving in Thessaloniki Airport
The arrival in Thessaloniki has been very effective. The approach felt a bit unusual as there has been a late curve, but it went very smooth. There are no passenger bridges, so that all departure and arrival boarding is done via buses. Business Class gets a separate bus here. The delivery of luggage has been comparably quick. Luggage and arrivals area are very functional. Outside the airport building, the travel agencies have their desk to assign the passengers to the right transfer bus.






Flying from Thessaloniki Airport
On departure landside level, there are some stores around, so that you can grab something before you check-in to your flights. My check-in experience was disappointing, as I wrote in the Aegean A320 flight review. At the tourist flyers, especially at Eurowings, it has been very crowded on a Sunday morning, as several flights departed right after another.


The security control confused me as they let me wait quite some time after I reached the end of the priority queue and merged with the ordinary passengers. However, the control was quite efficient. Right after security, you reach the massive duty free / travel value merchandise, which is definitely the most posh and blinking place in the whole airport. There are also some massively priced articles like rare Metaxa or other spirit editions. The boarding area is quite functional again. In fact, not charming at all. There are some additional stores and bars around. The bus boarding gates are elevated above the runway level so that you have to take stairs down to the buses.







Aegean Lounge Thessaloniki
Despite the airport is maybe not too much of a memorable place, the Aegean Lounge at the end of the terminal definitely is a gem. It is very modern, having a mixture of different areas from relaxed sitting, a cantina-like seating near the food or nice working desks. There are some warm pastries, as they were also served in my hotel and a nice selection of cold snacks. Drinks include some spirits. A very nice bonus is that, if you fly Aegean or Olympic, boarding is done right from the lounge. A separate bus will bring you to the plane, which is a very comfortable service.





Food and drink was quite nice. Juice came in small bottles. Especially the range of different hot and cold drinks was very nice. I also felt that the dining area is quite cozy.



Boarding for Aegean flights is through the lounge, i.e. a separate bus brings you to your flight directly from the lounge – very nice and posh service, which rounds up a nice stay.


Thessaloniki Airport – My View
Athens airport is quite nice – but I guess, there is really no overwhelming airport in all Greece. Thus, it is not too surprising that I would not rate SKG too high. It is a solid place in my point of view. Some obvious organisational lacks and a bit of boring on the one hand. On the other hand, a nice (but not that cheap) duty free store and the beautiful Aegean Lounge. Of course, to be honest, most of the travelers will not see this tiny paradise in a dull (not all black) travel hub in Nortthern Greece. It is not the joy of your life to travel Makedonia airport – but there are worse experiences in life as well. Finally, it ends up with a quite low rating like the Thessaloniki Olympic Museum. This beautiful city just has some much better places!
Flyctory.com in Greece
Here are all Flyctory.com postings dealing with Greece:
It's quite a while ago since I presented some Greek metal to you. Time to change that with this posting. Full ...
Read More
I did not have Greek music for quite a while. The more I am glad that I received another sample ...
Read More
292 Media Review postings - looking into new music (and a few other) releases was definitely some sort of core ...
Read More
The Flyctory.com week before 16th October 2020 will be quite packed with rock and metal albums. There will be two ...
Read More
There are these very special e-mails in your life. One of those I received in mid-June 2020, when one of ...
Read More
Even though Covid-19 is taking quite much of our time, we should really enjoy the good things - and at ...
Read More
The Corona crisis keeps me buzy - and thus, it again took me quite a while to have a new ...
Read More
I typically do not present reviews of albums, which have been released more than two weeks ago. I just had ...
Read More
Due to my contacts to the Greek metal scene, which really seems to have a lot of musical talents, I ...
Read More
While the key reason of my trip to Tarpon Springs, Florida, was the amazing Replay Amusement Museum, the village is ...
Read More
Due to my contact to a Greek metal music promotion agency, I ran into another Greek metal album. The band ...
Read More
Project Renegade are the first Greek act I am reviewing on Flyctory.com. The metal quartet present their debut album Order Of ...
Read More
I had quite a packed weekend at Thessaloniki in October 2018. Thereby, the central Hotel Olympia has been my travel ...
Read More
How would a visit of Thessaloniki be completed without looking at the ancient Macedonian Times? Visiting the Archaelogical Museum of ...
Read More
Despite the undeniable fact that their capital Athens hosted the Olympic Summer Games twice, the only Olympic Museum in Greece ...
Read More
2018, Aegean Airlines has been voted by Skytrax as the best European regional airline. This alone might be worth mentioning ...
Read More
Flyctory.com about Business Class & More
Here are all articles related to Business Class and First Class travel:
New York LaGuardia Airport (LGA) is not regarded to be the nicest way of air traveling in and around the ...
Read More
After my second posting about Food I Had Onboard in mid March 2022, I had a couple of interesting flight experiences ...
Read More
Flying back in the Finnair Business Class from Dubai International, Terminal 1, to Helsinki Airport (HEL) has not been the ...
Read More
There are a couple of LOT intercontinental flights from Warsaw Airport (WAW) in my flight log. Based on that, I ...
Read More
It is time for the final posting of the years, simply named The Best Ones 2021. After looking into my ...
Read More
In late August 2021, I flew back from Salzburg Airport (SZG) to Dusseldorf Airport (DUS) with Eurowings. My BizClass ticket ...
Read More
In October 2021, on a flight from Munich (MUC) to Keflavik Airport (KEF), I decided to go for a new ...
Read More
As part of my Condor Business Class experience from Toronto Pearson (YYZ), Terminal 3, to Frankfurt (FRA), I also had ...
Read More
After flying with Porter Airlines from Toronto Billy Bishop Airport (YTZ) to Ottawa, my return trip was on rails. For ...
Read More
For my trip to Canada on the day they re-opened their borders after Covid-19 restrictions I went for Condor. I ...
Read More
Friday, the 13th... On 13th August 2021, I was scheduled to have my very first Boeing 737-MAX flight. Icelandair from ...
Read More
During the later phases of the Covid-19 lock-downs in Germany, I had the idea to that posting. Maybe just because ...
Read More
For years, if I would have wanted to deeply bash the Deutsche Bahn (German Rails), there would have been a simple way ...
Read More
Helgoland (in English also called Heligoland) is very often referred to as Germany's only deep-sea island. Even though this nice ...
Read More
When people discuss about good airlines for US domestic travel, Alaska Airlines is very frequently mentioned. Thus, I was really ...
Read More
Fortunate unexpected upgrade: I originally planned to go from Paderborn/Lippstadt (PAD) to Westerland/Sylt (GWT) to check out a new German ...
Read More
In April 2021, I finally had my first flight connections to/from the new Berlin airport, BER - Berlin / Brandenburg ...
Read More
After praising my favorite songs of 2020 and the favorite albums and EPs in 2020, the final posting to do ...
Read More
It is still uncertain when there will be regular touristic travel between the United Kingdom or Europe and North America ...
Read More
Apart from Trenitalia and their Frecciarossa network, there is also NRT (Nuovo Transporto Viaggiatori - "New Travellers Transport"), who are ...
Read More
After visiting so many German Rail lounges in my life, I was really looking forward how the more exclusive waiting ...
Read More
On my Four Contries, Four Trains trip in summer 2020, my rail trip on Day 2 was an absolute highlight of ...
Read More
While - especially for business reasons - trans-European rail connections may still take too much time for daytime transfers, night ...
Read More
With British Airways' decision to move all short-distance connections including the one to Cologne/Bonn airport to Heathrow, I unfortunately will ...
Read More
Though they really seem to put in quite some effort to improve the situation, I am not too much a ...
Read More
In recent times, I had three Business Class flights with Finnair's long distance flagship, the Airbus A 350. In August, ...
Read More
Right before the United Kingdom left the European Union, I headed to Jersey for a short mileage run. The Channel ...
Read More
While my Lufthansa Senator Status typically grants me access to the SAS Gold Lounge next door, a Eurowings BizClass flight ...
Read More
If you fly a non-Schengen flight from Terminal 1 (the non-Lufthansa one) at Munich Airport and depart from the B ...
Read More
In contrast to the significantly more fancy Flagship Lounges (here is my review of the JFK one), the American Airlines ...
Read More
In 2019, I twice had flights to and from Newcastle Airport: the first time, I travelled to Sunderland in July ...
Read More
There are not too many options to avoid budget travel when you want to fly into Tenerife North / Tenerife ...
Read More
After I tested their A330 Premium Economy Class on a flight to Philadelphia before, I was really flattered to check ...
Read More
Flying from Stockholm to Helsinki with Finnair in early August 2019 gave me the opportunity to visit a lounge I ...
Read More
I have to admit that American Airlines Admiral Club Lounges are not really my favorite place. Some are functional, some ...
Read More
Flying intercontinentally from Europe via Helsinki, especially to Asian destinations, became more and more popular the last years. One key ...
Read More
After I mentioned the Air Canada Lounge at Frankfurt Airport already in my love letter posting to LATAM flight 705, ...
Read More
On my trip to Nashville in May 2019, I was lucky to receive an operational upgrade on BA 217 from ...
Read More
While I had Lufthansa First Class services from Frankfurt to Hong Kong and from Singapore back to Frankfurt on my ...
Read More
My trip to Singapore and Malaysia was my debut First Class experience (apart from Domestic First in the USA). I ...
Read More
While my previous experience flying to Dubai was the great Air Belgium service on behalf of British Airways, my wife ...
Read More
For customers flying on Lufthansa's top notch First Class product (and HON Circle Members), the German airline offers a very ...
Read More
During my trip to Singapore and Malaysia, I chose Malysia Airlines for my return from Kuala Lumpur International to Singapore ...
Read More
During my April/May 2019 stay in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, I used Malindo Air flight OD 808 on 3rd May ...
Read More
The Lufthansa Lounges for Senators and Business Class customers are tending to be too crowded, especially in peak times. Thus, ...
Read More
While Air Belgium is doing their very own route from Brussels-Charleroi to Hong Kong, they are currently also supporting the ...
Read More
Not just my way to New York was very special by flying the remarkable BA 1 service from London-City to ...
Read More
British Airways flight BA 1 has always been on my bucket list. The very special connection between London and New ...
Read More
After a long time of renovation, SWISS re-opened their Senator and Business Class Lounge at the A Gates / Schengen ...
Read More
"Flying Rouge" becomes quite a success story for Air Canada. Just having started five years ago in 2013, the Maple ...
Read More
If you collect and something, you likely also have one or more several favourite pieces in your collection. What do ...
Read More
Post Views:
3,068
I felt very discriminated as a foreigner and was treated as if I
personally brought covid 19 to Greece while I am vaccinated 3x.Rude and unpolied staff example at secuity:open your bag now.This is the way I talk to my dog,please or would you open your bag?!would be more suited.The airport looks clean and empty many shops are still closed.
While boarding all greeks pass with far too large handbags but as a foreigner you are put aside to pay???
This airport does not reflext the greek hospitality!
Unacceptable that in the airplane covid measures are very well respected and taking the bus of goldair everybody packed together breathing in each others faces!!!
Success with your new airport but I will travel via Athens or will not travel at all.
Thanks for both of your comments, I decided just to put up one of them, as they were equivalent and I cannot validate your experience.
Traveling through different countries during the pandemic, I definitely share your experience of having different levels of strictness – and politeness – of the airport and aviation staff. This review has been done before the Covid-19 measures have been in place, so I can neither validate your experience or state that I had a very different time there.
Treating people differently depending on their – assumed – origin is discriminating and as you say not what I typically explore when visiting Greece. It definitely does happen in multiple countries, though – especially these “small” things like luggage size and contents. You should, however, never mix up the service of the airport and the service of the airline. The amount of buses used for boarding (and by that: the amount of people in one bus) is solely an airline decision (how much they want to pay). When I review a report, I only look at the building, the facilities, the effectiveness of security control and check-in and similar services. I experience too packed buses also in other airports, including German airport and rather “premium” airlines.
Last, but not least: Athens is not reviewed on Flyctory.com, as I did that airport before I actually founded Flyctory.com – but I am not too much of a fan of ATH either 🙂 I love to enjoy airports, but sometimes you just have to accept them and get passed them. Hope you have a better travel experience next time.
Cheers,
Florian