Athens' ghost airport

Hellenikon has languished for over a decade as a wasteland of crumbling buildings and rusting airplanes.

But a 7-billion-euro plan to develop the site - a complex three times the size of Monaco – could soon transform the landscape.

The real estate project is one of Europe's most ambitious and stands to be a major boost for a nation limping back to growth after nearly going bankrupt.

But it faces criticism from the main leftist opposition and locals, both of whom fear the luxury development could turn into a concrete jungle out of reach for ordinary Greeks.

To those with long memories, the Hellenikon site still conjures up its 1960s jet-set heyday when shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis ran Olympic Airlines in lavish style and his partner at the time, opera diva Maria Callas, added a dash of glamour and gossip.

But those days are long gone and, for now, the airport remains in a derelict state. Announcement boards, somewhat eerily, still proclaim flights now long flown and forgotten and passenger gates stand empty.

Rubbish still lies strewn on the ground at the airport after efforts by successive governments to turn the Hellenikon site into a profitable venture have all fallen through.

However, Lamda Development, controlled by Greece's powerful Latsis family and leading a consortium of Chinese and Abu-Dhabi based companies, has big dreams for the area since signing a 915 million euro deal for a 99-year lease in March.

But despite the promise of jobs and investment flowing into the economy, opposition to the plan remains high in Greece.

Greece's anti-bailout opposition Syriza party, which wants to turn the plot into a free-for-all park, has repeatedly accused the country's privatizations agency of an "unprecedented clearance sale" of state assets against the public interest.