Planned Airline Seats to Greece Still Strong Into October

Greece’s post-Covid recovery is going strong according to planned seats on incoming flights for October, said INSETE, the research body of the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE).

More specifically, according to INSETE’s recovery tracker, airline seat capacity on incoming international flights to Greece through to October 2 reached  708,929, and 617,000 in the first week, with 577,000 expected over the October 10-16 period.

Source: INSETE

Autumn visitors to Greece are mainly from Germany, the UK, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Poland, Cyprus and Israel, and are headed to Athens, Heraklion, Rhodes, Thessaloniki, Corfu, Kos, Chania, Santorini, Zakynthos and Mykonos, where airports are handling the strongest inbound traffic.

Source: INSETE

According to local tourism professionals, the number of seats to the country are expected to drop in the fall but this year capacity is at unprecedented highs for the month.

Based on data compiled by INSETE’s recovery tracker, this month’s airline capacity for Crete, Kos and Rhodes is at 70 percent and 80 percent for Santorini. Analysts also expect the number of seats to increase for Athens in the fall.

Source: INSETE

Last month, Greek Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias confirmed that efforts to extend the tourist season were paying off with robust inflows until the end of October.

“According to reservation and ticket data for September and October, tourist flows are not only ongoing but in several instances stronger,” said Kikilias. “It appears that we are winning the bet to achieve an extension of the tourist season,” he added.

In September, Kikilias announced that talks were underway with airlines to secure direct flights from the United States to Greece for the fall and winter season.

At the same time, UK airline and tour operator servicing Greece,  Jet2.com, said it was expanding its 2023 program even further with the addition of new routes and more seats.

The Greek tourism minister underlined that the increased traveler flows to Greece this year are reflected in 2022 revenues which are expected to exceed record year 2019.