The board below lists every inbound flight to Thessaloniki Airport (SKG) with its scheduled and actual time. Read it for one thing above all: a flight marked as landed is not a passenger standing on the kerb. Taxiing, immigration queues, then the baggage belt fill the gap between touchdown and the exit doors, so anyone driving out to meet a flight should treat the landing time as the start of a wait rather than the end of one.
Plan on 20 to 40 minutes from touchdown to the arrivals hall, plus about 30 minutes to cover the 13 km into town. Fares and journey times below were checked in August 2026.
Where do arriving passengers come out at SKG?
At ground level, in whichever of the two terminals the flight was assigned. Thessaloniki "Makedonia" Airport has two buildings, T1 and T2, and both put arrivals downstairs with departures on the level above.
A landside walkway links them, so waiting in the wrong building costs a short walk rather than a drive. It matters little anyway, because transport leaves from one place: a single bus stop in the Arrivals area serves every city line, and the official taxi rank sits immediately outside the exit.
Fraport Greece, concession holder since 2017, runs both terminals as one complex and opened T2 in 2021. Our guide to the SKG terminals covers how the two buildings divide up check-in and gates.
How long is it from touchdown to the arrivals hall?
Between 20 and 40 minutes. No one can promise a single figure: it turns on which stand the aircraft parks at, how long immigration takes, and how quickly the belt starts moving.
For anyone meeting a flight, that range matters more than any other figure here. The city centre lies about 13 km away and a taxi covers it in roughly 30 minutes in normal traffic, so setting off when the board flips to "landed" tends to put you at the terminal at about the right moment. Set off while the board still says "estimated" and you will be parking and waiting.
Two things stretch it. A non-Schengen flight adds an immigration queue; a full aircraft at the August peak adds belt time. Cabin baggage only? Take the bottom of the range.
What transport runs when you land after midnight?
Two options keep going, and one disappears. Blue taxis work the official rank around the clock, and bus line 1N, the overnight version of the daytime 1X, still runs into the city for the same €2.00 flat fare.
What stops is any public link to Halkidiki. KTEL regional coaches to Kassandra and Sithonia leave from a terminal in the city rather than the airport, and in summer their last departures go in the evening. After a late landing, the peninsula is reachable by taxi or a pre-booked car and nothing else.
The night bus carries two catches worth knowing before you count on it. Departures thin to roughly one an hour, so a missed one means a long wait on an empty forecourt, and the ride takes well over an hour once every stop is served. Our night arrivals guide works through the numbers.
Decision rule: landing before 23:00 with one or two bags, take the 1X. Landing after midnight, carrying three or more suitcases, or heading for Halkidiki, and a taxi or booked car is the only sensible answer.
Which way into the city should you choose?
| Option | Fare | Time to the centre | Choose it when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bus 1X | €2.00 (€1.00 reduced) | About 40 minutes | Daytime landing, one or two bags |
| Bus 1N | €2.00 | Over an hour | Overnight landing, no rush, tight budget |
| Bus 2X + metro | €2.00 plus metro fare | Varies by destination | Your address sits near a metro station |
| Blue taxi | Roughly €25 by day, about €35 at night | About 30 minutes | Late landing, heavy luggage, family |
| Pre-booked car | Fixed, agreed before you fly | About 30 minutes | You want the fare settled in advance |
OASTH operates the buses; the regional authority OSETH plans the network and publishes the timetables. A ticket costs the same at the airport booth as on board, so skip the queue if a bus is already waiting. The metro, open since late 2024, does not reach the airport at all: the 2X connects it at Nea Elvetia, and our metro page sets out what the 2026 Kalamaria extension changes.
Taxis run on the meter, with a higher tariff between 00:00 and 05:00, and luggage or airport pick-up surcharges can land on top. Cards are widely accepted but not guaranteed, so keep cash. Fare detail sits on our airport taxi page.
How do you tell whether a flight has really landed?
Watch the actual time, not the status word. The board separates three figures: scheduled, currently estimated, and actually touched down. Only the third is a fact.
Airlines revise estimates through the day, and a delay declared at the origin shows up here before it reaches any messaging app. An estimate that slides by ten minutes at a time usually means the aircraft has not left its previous airport.
When a connection or a booking depends on it, cross-check before acting. The widget here reads Avionio data; the airport publishes its own list, and the two can differ by a minute on one flight.
How we checked
Terminal layout, fares and journey times were consulted in August 2026. Flight status comes from the Avionio board widget. Timetables and fares for lines 1X, 1N and 2X follow the network published by OSETH, the regional transport authority for Central Macedonia. Terminal and passenger figures follow Fraport Greece, which has held the concession since 2017, and the airport’s own flight list remains the primary source for any individual flight.
Taxi figures are indicative rather than tariffed: Greek airport taxis are metered, so the €25 daytime and €35 overnight numbers describe typical rides into the centre in August 2026, not a fixed price. Where a figure could not be verified, we say what to check instead of guessing.
