Full Scale Emergency Exercise 2026

Athens International Airport conducts annual emergency exercises aimed at testing the Airport Emergency Plan assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of available resources and systems, familiarising and training personnel in incident response, and, above all, maintaining a high level of preparedness among all involved stakeholders.

In this context, a Full Scale Emergency Exercise was successfully conducted on Tuesday, 27 January, under the scenario title “Aircraft Accident at the Airport”, in accordance with the regulations of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

In this year’s emergency exercise, the following agencies participated:

•    AEGEAN
•    Air Traffic Control / Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority / Airport Control Tower
•    Airport Hellenic Fire Corps Hellenic Fire Corps 
•    Airport Hellenic Police
•    Airport Emergency Medical Services
•    National Center for Emergency Assistance Goldair Handling 
•    Athens International Airport S.A.
•    Hellenic Air & Rail Safety Investigation Authority 

Additionally, volunteers from the Hellenic Fire Corps participated, simulating the aircraft’s passengers, as well as volunteers (students) from IEK DELTA 360, who, according to the scenario, simulated the passengers’ friends and relatives.

- EXERCISE SCENARIO -

According to the exercise scenario:

On January 27ΤΗ, 2026, an A320neo aircraft, operated by Aegean Airlines, flight number A32026, departs from Tirana with a Scheduled Time of Arrival (STA) at LGAV, at 11:00 local time. The aircraft carries 2 flight crew, 4 cabin crew, and 33 passengers, for a total of 39 persons on board (POB).

At 11:00, the aircraft crashes during landing when the landing gear strikes an obstacle near the threshold of RWY «21R».

Part of the aircraft’s tail section detaches. The remaining fuselage and wings rotate and slide southeast, coming to rest left of the RWY, on TWY “B”, between links “A2” and “A4”.

- END OF SCENARIO –

For the purposes of the exercise, the following Emergency Centres were activated and operated:

• Crisis Management Centre
• Friends and Relatives Reception Centre
• Athens International Airport Emergency Information Centre
• Airline Call Centre
• Passenger and Crew Reception Areas
• as well as the respective centres organised by the air carrier.

Within the framework of the exercise, the issuance of public information announcements by the involved Services / Authorities was also simulated.