Passenger Traffic at Greek Airports On the Up: Over 45 Million in Jan-Aug

During the first eight months of the year, Greek airports welcomed over 2.1 million more passengers year-on-year.

According to data released on Thursday by the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (HCAA), total passenger traffic at Greek airports, during the January-August 2019 period, reached 45,839,842, up 4.9 percent year-on-year (43,698,557 passengers in 2018).

“Right now passenger traffic is up by 2,141,285 in 2019 compared to last year,” HCAA said.

The total number of flights at Greek airports during the January-August period reached 377,720 (of which 230,099 were international flights and 147,621 were domestic), up 4.3 percent, compared to the corresponding period of 2018 (362,014 flights).

In August alone, 10,313,725 passengers passed through Greek airports, a total increase of 5.5 percent compared to the same month last year (9,775,053). The total number of flights at Greek airports in August was 78,537, up 2.7 percent year-on-year.

The number of foreign passengers in August reached almost 4 million (3,987,722), up 6.4 percent compared to 2018.

Airports with highest passenger traffic

Like in July, the airports of Athens, Heraklion, Rhodes, Thessaloniki and Corfu received the most passengers in August.

According to the HCAA, during the first eight months of the year, the airport of Ioannina recorded the highest passenger traffic growth out of all of Greece’s airports, marking a 29.9 percent increase and handling 93,417 passengers against 71,893 in the same period last year.

The HCAA also noted that the airports on Naxos and Limnos also saw high passenger growth.

Passenger traffic at Naxos airport rose by 21.3 percent (74,733 passengers compared to 61.631 last year) and at Limnos Airport increased by 19 percent (75,557 passengers compared to 63,502 in 2018).