A new project that will develop Greece’s first private airport, to be located in the northern Greece city of Kavala, kicked-off through a launch ceremony and is expected to be completed in a year in a half, according to reports by state-run news agency AMNA.

The airport will be called Lydia and is slotted to support general aviation activities, like private and business flights, but not commercial nor military flights.

The report by AMNA points out that Europe’s private aviation industry has an annual turnover of around six billion euros and includes 40,000 private planes and 360,000 pilots.

The project is a public-private partnership and Greece’s Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Christina Alexopoulou, said the state-of-the-art facilities planned for Amygdaleona, Kavala prefecture, have the capacity to “contribute, substantially and measurably to the development of the region, as a gateway to the Balkans.”

Alexopoulou added that “the axis of Drama-Kavala offers the fastest access to the Aegean for Greece’s neighboring countries”, and may be a pilot program for the introduction of other general (private) aviation airports in Greece, according to AMNA.

Kavala has been in the spotlight for the past few years as it slowly develops into an economic corridor through development plans for its ports and new, more innovative activities underway including carbon storage projects.