Athens International Airport Ends Year with 12.35 Million Passengers

Passengers making their way to a checkpoint upon their arrival at Athens International Airport. Photo source: European Union / Yorgos Karahalis

For the year 2021, Athens International Airport’s (AIA) passenger count was over 12 million, reaching almost half the levels of 2019 as it continued to be affected by the coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis.

According to data released by AIA, the year 2021 ended with the airport’s traffic amounting to 12.35 million passengers, exceeding the respective 2020 levels by 52.8 percent, but lagging behind by 51.7 percent compared to 2019.

Domestic passengers exceeded the 2020 levels by 52.8 percent and international passengers by 52.9 percent but lagged well behind 2019 levels by 40.6 percent and 56.6 percent respectively.

It is reminded that in 2019, passenger traffic at AIA had reached a new record at 25.5 million, up by 6 percent compared to 2018.

December 2021 traffic hit by Covid-19

During December 2021, the airport’s passenger traffic amounted to 1.11 million, being below the December 2019 levels by 32.4 percent.

As noted by AIA, December’s passenger traffic continued to be “substantially affected by the COVID-19 pandemic crisis and its impact on air travel”.

In the domestic market, traffic was below the respective 2019 levels by 12.5 percent, while in the international sector, passenger demand presented a 40.3 percent decline vs the corresponding 2019 traffic.

Flights

Overall, for the year 2021, Athens Airport’s number of flights amounted to 159 thousand, and, although exceeding the respective 2020 numbers by 41.4 percent, they were below the 2019 levels by 29.6 percent, severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

In detail, both domestic and international flights, although exceeding the corresponding 2020 levels by 42.4 percent and 40.6 percent respectively, remained below the 2019 levels by 21.4 percent and 35.4 percent respectively.