About

Tasked with providing legal support for the myriad of operations that Athens International Airport is involved in provides a variety of work for the company’s legal team. Its consistent success in dealing with this demanding workload is extremely impressive. ‘As well as aviation and airport law issues’, legal affairs director Eugenia Papathanasopoulou explains, ‘contractual issues pertaining to all kinds of agreements, tendering and procurement procedures, advising on day-to-day issues and communicating with the company’s counterparts are among the extensive legal support provided by the company’. It also ‘almost exclusively’ undertakes company litigation and has been remarkably successful in this role for over two decades in a number of courts around the world, leveraging the multiple skills available to the legal team; ‘Despite their expertise in various fields of law, all lawyers are given the chance to have a global view of the legal issues of the airport company by allocation of the department’s obligations on a case-by-case basis to everyone in the team’, Papathanasopoulou explains. Team culture is important for any team, and it is clear that this aspect of in-house legal work is particularly strong within the Athens International Airport legal function. ‘The legal team is characterised by teamwork, trust, efficiency, professionalism, continuous training and business orientation’, she says. ‘The department is very exposed to aviation policy and law developments by actively participating in the most important aviation and airport organisations and forums, including the Airport Council International Europe. We also focus on achieving results while acting with integrity and a strong sense of responsibility and always in accordance with the company’s polices and the code of business conduct. In short, we are not just advisors but part of the aviation business,’ she explains.