Egnatia Aviation Marks 20 Years with Formal Opening of Lydia Aerodrome

Greece – Egnatia Aviation has formally inaugurated Lydia Aerodrome in Amygdaleonas, Kavala, establishing the privately owned general aviation airport as the dedicated operating base for its flight-training activity. The September 18, 2026 inauguration also marked Egnatia Aviation’s 20th anniversary and formalises an infrastructure development that has already been supporting training operations since 2023.

• Lydia Aerodrome has a 1,330 m × 28 m asphalt runway, 28 aircraft parking stands and an average of 14 operating hours per day across 360 operating days annually. The aerodrome is approved for day and night VFR operations and incorporates a new taxiway system, air traffic control tower, fuel services, maintenance infrastructure and two dedicated fire vehicles.
• Athens-Macedonian News Agency describes Lydia as the first privately owned general aviation airport in Greece and the new home of Egnatia Aviation’s pilot-training operation. The airport is located approximately 5 km northwest of Kavala.
• The dedicated operating environment gives Egnatia greater control over training availability than operating exclusively from a commercial airport, with the published 14-hour daily operating window and 28 stands supporting sustained training movements as student volumes expand. Egnatia reported 2,975 movements and 2,325 flight hours at Lydia during March 2026 alone, with 116 cadets active on the flight line that month.
• The September inauguration represents the formal opening rather than the beginning of flight activity at Lydia. Following reconstruction of the former Amygdaleonas airfield, the first aircraft landed at the renamed aerodrome on January 3, 2023 — an Egnatia Aviation Diamond DA42 NG operating as “Lydia First.” Egnatia subsequently transferred increasing levels of its cadet flying activity to the site.
• Lydia's infrastructure is designed around both Egnatia’s training operation and wider general aviation activity. The airport accommodates aircraft up to 5,700 kg MTOW and offers Jet A-1, AVGAS 100LL and MOGAS 95UL fuel, aircraft parking, flight-planning facilities, maintenance and continuing-airworthiness support.
• Egnatia is continuing to build additional training and supporting infrastructure around the aerodrome. During 2025 the organisation progressed new training and management buildings, a terminal and commercial and accommodation facilities as part of its wider Kavala training-campus development.
• The academy’s current integrated airline pilot program comprises 226.2 training hours, including 124.7 hours on Elixir and Diamond DA40 single-engine aircraft, 19 hours on the Diamond DA42, 42.5 hours on FNPT II simulators and 40 hours of APS MCC simulator training.
• Egnatia’s training activity grew during 2025, with cadet intake increasing 18% year-on-year and delivered training hours increasing 21%. Six Elixir aircraft were added during the year and a further nine were on order at year-end; the academy’s complete September 2026 fleet composition was not independently confirmed.
• The formal inauguration coincides with 20 years since Egnatia began commercial pilot training in Greece in 2006. The academy currently states that its graduates are employed by more than 60 airlines and that its aircraft generate more than 25,000 training flight hours annually. 

About Egnatia Aviation
Egnatia Aviation is an EASA-approved commercial pilot training organisation founded in 2006 and headquartered at Lydia Aerodrome in Kavala, northern Greece. Its training activities include integrated airline pilot training, ATPL theory, APS MCC and Advanced UPRT, supported by single- and multi-engine aircraft and synthetic training devices. The organisation reports students from 57 countries, more than 2,700 working alumni and over 25,000 annual flight hours. Egnatia Group also incorporates Egnatia Airworthiness and Egnatia Aerodromes; current aircraft and simulator quantities were not independently confirmed.

Source: Egnatia Aviation