Covid-19: Greek Airports See 59% Slump in March Passenger Traffic

International and domestic passenger traffic at all airports in Greece in March 2020 was down by 59 percent due to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (HCAA) said recently.

“As shown by the data, the restrictions on passenger movement in Europe and Greece (due to the Covid-19 virus) have resulted to a large reduction in passenger traffic at the country’s airports,” HCAA said.

According to HCAA data, only 1.02 million passengers traveled through Greek airports last month, a 59 percent drop compared to March 2019.

Arrivals of foreign passengers at Greek airports in March decreased by 60.2 percent to 279,346, compared to 701,712 passengers last year. The total number of flights amounted to 15,987, down by 31.4 percent compared to the corresponding period of 2019, when 23,288 flights had operated.

HCCA’s data showed that the airports of Athens, Thessaloniki and Heraklion (Crete) saw the largest reduction in passenger traffic in March 2020, compared to the corresponding period of 2019.

More specifically, last month 635,408 passengers passed through Athens’ airport last month, recording a 61.3 percent drop (1,640,877 in March 2019); 172,050 passengers were recorded at Thessaloniki’s airport, down by 57.5 percent (404,637 in March 2019); and 59,058 passengers passed through Heraklion Airport, recording a 51.6 percent fall (122,145 in March 2019).

April

HCAA said it expects passenger traffic to fall even further in April, even recording the worst levels of all time, not only at Greek airports but at all European airports.

Regarding the passenger traffic at Greek airports during January-March 2020, it appears that the total number of passengers that went through Greek airports reached 5.4 million, a 19.2 percent drop compared to the first three months of 2019 (6.7 million).

Flights at Greece’s airports during January-March 2020 amounted to 58,712 (of which 33,405 were domestic and 25,307 were international), resulting to a decrease of 10.3 percent, compared to the corresponding period of 2019 when 65,437 flights had been recorded.