Athens International Airport Eleftherios Venizelos initialised as AIA, is the largest international airport in Greece, serving the city of Athens and region of Attica. It began operation on 28 March 2001 and is the main base of Aegean Airlines, as well as other smaller Greek airlines, it is located near the old Ellinikon International Airport. Athens International is a member of Group 1 of Airports Council International as of 2019, it is the 26th-busiest airport in Europe. AIA is located between the towns of Markopoulo, Koropi and Loutsa, about 20 km to the east of central Athens; the airport is named after Elefthérios Venizélos, the prominent Cretan political figure and Prime Minister of Greece, who made a significant contribution to the development of Greek aviation and the Hellenic Air Force in the 1930s. As to-date, the airport is operated by AIA S. A. and ownership is divided between the Hellenic Republic and Private Sector in a 55%-45% stake following a PPP scheme for the airport company.
Private investors include the Copelouzos Group and PSP Investments of Canada, following purchase of Hochtief's shares. The airport was constructed to replace the now-closed Athens International Airport, as the latter had reached its saturation point with no physical space for further growth. Studies for a new airport had been carried out from as early as the 1970s, with as many as 19 different locations being looked at before an area close to the town of Spata was chosen as suitable. Athens Airport SA, a state-owned company, was established in 1978 to proceed with the plans. However, after delays and slow development, the project was revived in 1991 with the government launching an international tender for the selection of a build-own-operate-transfer partner for the airport project, with Hochtief of Germany being selected. In 1996, Athens International Airport S. A. was established as a Public–private partnership with a 30-year concession agreement. That same year, the €2.1 billion development began with an estimated completion date of February 2001.
The airport construction was completed five months before schedule, but was delayed opening a month due to surface connections to Attiki Odos not being completed. The airport opened on 28 March 2001, its major features include two parallel runways being 4 km and 3.8 km long respectively. The airport has received approval from the European Aviation Safety Agency and the Federal Aviation Administration for take-offs and landings of the biggest passenger jet worldwide, the A380; the first A380 to visit'Eleftherios Venizelos' Athens International Airport made an emergency landing on 13 April 2011 for emergency medical reasons. The first scheduled A380 flight took place on 26 October 2012 by Emirates; the Greek government-debt crisis reduced the overall passenger traffic of the airport for six consecutive years. Many long-haul airlines outright terminated service to the airport, while others chose to operate on a seasonal basis only, opting to terminate service during the winter months. Moreover, these problems were further exacerbated by the closure of Olympic Airlines, which operated many long-haul flights to and from the airport.
In 2013, the airport handled just above 12.5 million passengers, 3.2% fewer than in 2012 and lower by 25% when compared to 2007's traffic, the all-time-high at that time. 2014 signaled a strong recovery for all statistical figures. More than ten new airlines started new flights to and from Athens. Aegean Airlines strengthened its network by 30% while Ryanair established a new base in the Athens Airport and added eight destinations; the airport company recorded an increase in passenger traffic in excess of 21% during 2014, reaching 15.1 million passengers, resulted both by new destinations but by increased capacity offered on established ones. Characteristically and Gulf Air resumed flights while Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways fly more to/from Athens. Delta Air Line resumed their weekly flights and American Airlines retained their seasonal schedules to/from USA with more frequent connectivity. From 2017 onwards, year-round services to Singapore are going to resume after more than five years.
Flights are going to be operated by Scoot. According to AIA published statistics, total traffic for 2015 achieved an impressive performance reaching 18.1 million passengers, an all-time-record for the airport at that time, increased by 19% on year-over-year basis and by 1.55 million the previous best, the pre-crisis year 2007. In addition, over the same period, aircraft traffic exhibited a solid growth of 14% year-over-year. Moreover, in 2015 a significant rise was recorded by transfer passengers, with the international to international transfer traffic marking an impressive increase demonstrating the significant enhancement of the Athens airport connectivity. 2016 was a landmark year for the Athens International Airport, both for domestic and international destinations. Annual results reflected a solid performance for a third year in a row fueled by double-digit growth, this time passing the twenty million mark, increased by 10.7% on year-over-year basis. Healthy growth continued in 2017 with the airport showing traffic increase of 8.6% to a total of 21.7 million passengers, yet another all-time record for the Athens airport.
During 2018, the airport achieved yet another record hi
Joseph Schubert was a Romanian cleric and a titular bishop of the Roman Catholic Church. Born to an ethnic German family in Bucharest, he studied theology at Innsbruck, becoming doctor of theology and being ordained a priest in 1916. After returning to Romania, he was assigned as parish priest in Caramurat, in 1931 as a priest attached to the Bucharest cathedral, he taught at the theological seminary in his native city. Following the 1949 arrest of Anton Durcovici by the authorities of the new Communist regime, he was made Apostolic Administrator of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bucharest, being consecrated titular bishop of Ceramus by Gerald Patrick O'Hara in June 1950. Arrested in February 1951, he was sentenced to hard labor for life and freed in August 1964. Sighet prison was among the places. Forced to reside at first in Timişu de Sus, he was under constant surveillance from agents of the Religious Affairs Department. In January 1969 he was allowed to emigrate to Western Europe, meeting Pope Paul VI the following month and dying in Munich in April.
It was Schubert who consecrated Alexandru Todea bishop in 1950. Prior to leaving Romania, he transferred his administrative duties to Iosif Gonciu, who in turn left them to Ioan Robu in 1983. Mircea Birtz and Manfred Kierein, Alte fărâme din prescura prigoanei. Editura Napoca Star, Cluj-Napoca, 2010, ISBN 978-973-647-737-9 William Totok, „Der vergessene stalinistische Schauprozess gegen die »Spione des Vatikans« in Rumänien 1951“, in: Jahrbuch für Historische Kommunismusforschung 2005, Hg. von Hermann Weber, Ulrich Mählert, Bernhard H. Bayerlein u.a. Aufbau Verlag, Berlin 2005, S. 233-259. „Der Bischof, Hitler und die Securitate. Der stalinistische Schauprozess gegen die so genannten »Spione des Vatikans«„, 1951 in Bukarest", in: Halbjahresschrift für südosteuropäosche Geschichte, Literatur und Politik, 17.-20. Jg. 2005-2008. Episcopul, Hitler și Securitatea - Procesul stalinist împotriva »spionilor Vaticanului« din România, Editura Polirom, Iași, 2008
Biran Basnet is a Bhutanese international footballer playing as a midfielder for Quartz Calicut in the I-League 2nd Division. Basnet began his career at Druk Star, though given that they were not relegated from the A-Division in 2010 but did not partake in the 2011 season, it is unclear what level of football he was playing, he moved from Thimphu to Ugyen Academy in Punakha in 2012 and won the National League in 2013. Following the national title, he played in the 2014 AFC President's Cup, taking part in the 1–0 loss to Sri Lanka's Air Force SC, the 3–0 loss to Pakistan's KRL F. C. and the 4–0 loss to Bangladesh's Sheikh Russel KC. He made his first appearance for the Bhutan national football team in 2012 in the 5–0 friendly defeat to Thailand, he next played for Bhutan in their 3–0 loss to Afghanistan in the 2013 SAFF Championship group stage. He was an unused substitute in the other two group matches, the 8–2 loss to the Maldives and the 5–2 loss to Sri Lanka Scores and results list the Bhutan's goal tally first