Thessaloniki International Airport "Macedonia", formerly known as Mikra Airport, is located 7NM south of the White Tower of Thessaloniki in Greece at Thermi.The airport is the third-largest airport in the country after Athens International Airport and Heraklion International Airport. It opened in 1930 and was the second-busiest airport in Greece in terms of flights served and the third-busiest in terms of passengers served in 2016, with over 6 million passengers. It is the main airport of Northern Greece and serves the city of Thessaloniki, the popular tourist destination of Chalkidiki and the surrounding cities of the region.HistoryDuring World War I the area that the airport currently occupies was used as an airfield and it continued operating as an airfield during World War II. At the time of the German occupation of Greece major projects took place, such as the creation of a 600m runway, while in 1948 the airport started operations as a civil airport for the first time.In 1950, the already existing (10/28) runway was paved with asphalt at a length of 1800m and in 1952 it was extended to 2000m. It was the same year that the first airport building was completed, with a control tower on the roof. One year later a new runway (16/34) was built. In 1958, the runway 10/28 underwent reconstruction and was extended to a total length of 2440m (current length), while runway 16/34 was extended to 2400m, with its completion in 1972. In 2004 a new parallel taxiway for runway 16/34, was opened for use.