Athens and Thessaloniki Airports Welcome Most of Greece’s November Arrivals

The airports of Athens and Thessaloniki welcomed the majority of Greece’s international air arrivals in November, the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE) said on Monday in its monthly bulletin by its research institute, INSETE.

According to the data, Greece’s main airports in November recorded an increase of international arrivals by 18.5 percent, compared to the same month in 2018.

The rise in arrivals is mainly attributed to both Athens International Airport (up 22.5 percent to 319 thousand passengers) and Thessaloniki Airport (up 14.1 percent to 119 thousand passengers).

In regards to domestic arrivals in Greek airports during November, the data showed a 6.1 percent decrease (34 thousand less arrivals) to 523 thousand, compared to November 2018 when 557 thousand arrivals were recorded.

January-November 2019: 770,000 more int’l arrivals

In January-November 2019, Greece saw 21 million international air arrivals, recording growth of 3.8 percent or 770 thousand more passengers due to increases, again, at the airports of Athens and Thessaloniki.

In Athens, 6.1 million arrivals (up by 12.2 percent, 665 thousand more passengers) were recorded during the 11-month period under review, while Thessaloniki welcomed 2.2 million arrivals (up by 7.8 percent, 159 million more passengers).

The total of Greece’s regional airports recorded a rise of 14.9 million passengers (0.7 percent increase, 105 thousand more passengers) during the January-November 2019 period.

Moreover, during the January-November 2019 period, domestic arrivals were up by 0.4 percent to 28 thousand passengers, recording a total of 7.6 million arrivals compared to the same period in 2018.

Road arrivals

INSETE’s bulletin also showed that road arrivals to Greece from main border points continued to increase for the fifth consecutive month, as an additional 28 thousand arrivals (4.8 percent rise) were recorded in November, compared to the same month last year, leading to a total of 614 thousand road arrivals.

In January-November 2019, 11.8 million arrivals were recorded, showing a decrease of 0.9 percent (111 thousand), compared to the corresponding period of 2018.