Greece’s Airport Traffic Up 6.98% in 2015

The total of domestic and international flights in Greece in 2015 amounted to 444,249, recording an increase of 6.98 percent, in comparison with 415,250 in 2014, according to a report released on Friday by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT). The report, which released Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority data on airport traffic in Greece for the 2013 – 2015 period, underlined that an increase of 10.63 percent had also been observed in 2014 compared with 2013.

In regards the number of flights in 2015, the airport of Athens accounted for 37.89 percent of total flights, followed by the airports of Thessaloniki and Heraklion, with 10.66 percent and 9.90 percent, respectively.

Greece’s passenger traffic last year amounted to 48,811,600 passengers, recording an increase of 9.46 percent, in comparison with 44,592,274 passengers in 2014 (a similar trend was observed in 2014, when passenger traffic grew by 15.95 percent in comparison with 2013). In 2015, the airport of Athens accounted for 36.97 percent of the total passenger traffic, followed by the airports of Heraklion and Thessaloniki, with 12.41 percent and 10.94 percent, respectively.

Out of the total number of passengers in 2015, 14,528,874 passengers travelled on domestic flights and 34,282,726 passengers on international flights. The majority of domestic flight passengers were handled by the airports of Athens, Thessaloniki and Chania, counting 6,419,019, 2,314,773 and 827,190 passengers, respectively. In regards to international flights, the majority of passengers were handled by the airports of Athens, Heraklion and Rhodes, with 11,624,707, 5,079,158 and 3,785,998 passengers, respectively.

According to the available data on the distribution of passenger traffic by month, the report reveals that the busiest period was the six-month period from May to October, which accounted for 76.47 percent of the total passenger traffic in 2015. Similarly, the four-month period from June to September 2015 accounted for 58.76 percent of the total passenger traffic. August had the biggest share of the total passenger traffic in 2015, with 16.8 percent, while passenger traffic grew significantly during the three-month period from January to March 2015 compared with the corresponding period of 2014.