International passenger traffic at Athens International Airport (AIA) appears to be gaining ground for the month of July following a large drop over the previous months due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
According to data released by AIA, the airport saw a significant increase in international passenger traffic on July 1 – the day Greece officially opened to tourism – as the number of travelers from abroad reached 21,100, up from 12,000 on June 30. AIA received a total of 55 international flights on July 1 against 30 that landed at the airport the previous day.
Greece’s regional airports on July 1 welcomed their first international flights after almost four months of lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. The airports of Athens and Thessaloniki were the first that officially opened to international flights on June 15.
According to AIA’s data, the airport had received 95,000 passengers on July 1, 2019, a number which cannot compare with this year’s data due to the significant drop in arrivals during the last months as a result of the coronavirus crisis.
The first 15 days of July will be indicative for the development of passenger traffic in the next months.
June passenger traffic down by 87.9%
The rise in passenger traffic this month at AIA follows a decline recorded in the previous months. Recently released data showed that June was the third consecutive month substantially affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on air travel.
The airport’s passenger traffic was below the respective 2019 levels by 87.9 percent to approximately 316,000 travelers.
Domestic and international passenger traffic dropped by 75.4 percent and 93.4 percent, respectively.
Overall during the first six months of 2020, the airport’s passenger traffic reached 3.9 million, which is down by 65.4 percent compared to the same period last year.
The number of international and domestic passengers decreased by 67 percent and 61.7 percent, respectively.
