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Lesvos’s airport at Mytilene will be closed to flights every Tuesday from 00:01 to 23:59 between 17 November 2026 and 23 March 2027 for runway works. According to the airport operator Fraport Greece, no scheduled flights can operate on Tuesdays in that period; the airport works normally on the other six days. The ferry from Ayvalik is not affected, but anyone using Lesvos as the link to an Athens flight should no longer plan on a Tuesday.
What happened?
On 8 September 2026 Fraport Greece announced reconstruction of the runway strips and runway end safety areas (RESA) at Corfu, Mytilene and Mykonos airports, as part of the concession for the 14 regional airports it runs. The schedule for Mytilene:
- Closed: every Tuesday from 17 November 2026 to 23 March 2027, 00:01-23:59 local time.
- Exceptions: Fraport’s Greek-language announcement exempts 22, 24 and 31 December 2026 and 5 and 7 January 2027. Of these, 22 December and 5 January are Tuesdays, so flights can operate on those two days. That leaves 17 closed Tuesdays out of 19 in the period.
- Conflicting dates: the English version of the same announcement lists 23, 24 and 31 December and 6 and 7 January instead, none of which is a Tuesday. The local press (Ta Nea tis Lesvou, 2 November; Lesvos News) gives the dates from the Greek version. If you plan to fly on 22 December or 5 January, confirm with your airline.
- Emergency flights: ambulance, search and rescue, firefighting and state flights can still operate by helicopter, and the airport’s other services continue.
The local press wrote that fares could rise as flights are concentrated on the remaining days; we have not seen an airline statement on this.
What it means for travellers
- Taking the ferry from Ayvalik: the closure does not affect sailings. According to the winter timetables on our site (checked 1-2 November 2026), in November Jalem Tur sails on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and Turyol on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays; neither shows a Tuesday sailing. When we re-checked the operators’ booking systems for 6-13 November on 6 November, there was no Tuesday sailing between Ayvalik and Lesvos either. Times are in our Ayvalik to Lesvos ferry guide and, in the other direction, the Lesvos to Ayvalik ferry guide.
- Combining a flight with the ferry: if you fly into Lesvos to cross to Turkey, or come back from Ayvalik to catch a flight to Athens, match your flight day to the ferry days (Wednesday to Sunday) and avoid Tuesdays.
- Turkish passport holders on the visa-on-arrival scheme: this visa is valid only for Lesvos and does not allow onward flights to Athens, so the closure does not directly concern them.
- Travelling via Chios: Chios airport is fully closed from the evening of 15 November to 15 March. Flying to Athens via Lesvos is now not possible on Tuesdays either. At a ministerial meeting on 4 November the Greek government confirmed the Chios closure; see our Chios airport news.
Getting from the airport into town and to the port is covered in our Lesvos airport guide.
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Sources
- Fraport Greece - Runway reconstruction works at CFU, MJT and JMK (Greek, 8 Sep 2026)
- Fraport Greece - Runway construction works at the airports of Corfu and Mitilene (English, 8 Sep 2026)
- Ta Nea tis Lesvou - Airport closed every Tuesday (Greek, 2 Nov 2026)
- Lesvos News - Mytilene without regular flights every Tuesday for months (Greek)
- TA NEA - Inter-ministerial meeting on Chios airport (Greek, 4 Nov 2026)
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