Athens Airport Sees Slowdown in September’s Passenger Traffic

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Athens International Airport (AIA) on Tuesday said its passenger traffic during September continued to be substantially affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic crisis and its impact on air travel.

According to AIA, last month’s passenger traffic was below the respective September 2019 levels by 34.1 percent.

“The specific level of decline – although signifying overall the progressive recovery observed since June – it however provides an indication of a gradual slowdown of the improvement observed during the peak summer period of July and August,” the airport’s management said.

In the domestic market, traffic at AIA in September was below the respective 2019 levels by 24.2 percent, while in the international sector, passenger demand presented a 38.4 percent decline vs the corresponding 2019 traffic.

Overall, during the January-September 2021 period, the airport’s passenger traffic totalled 8.4 million approximately, exceeding the respective 2020 levels by 22.5 percent, but lagging behind compared to 2019 by 57.9 percent, as a result of the sharp traffic drop since March 2020 due to the impact of the pandemic.

AIA said that domestic passengers exceeded the 2020 levels by 27.1 percent and international passengers by 19.8 percent, while both were below the same period 2019 by 46.9 percent and 62.8 percent, respectively.

Jan-Sept flights below 2019 levels by 35.2%

The airport’s number of flights during the first nine months of 2021 amounted to 114.8 thousand, and, although exceeding the respective 2020 numbers by 27 percent, they were below the 2019 levels by 35.2 percent, severely impacted by flight cancellations due to the pandemic crisis.

Both domestic and international flights at Athens airport during January-September, although exceeding the corresponding 2020 levels by 30.1 percent and 24.3 percent respectively, remained below the 2019 levels by 27.1 percent and 41.1 percent respectively.