HCAA: Greek Airports to Beat Pre-Covid 2019 Traffic Levels This Year

Photo source: Region of South Aegean

Passenger traffic at all Greek airports this year is expected to exceed pre-Covid 2019 levels, according to Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (HCAA) Governor Georgios Dritsakos.

Speaking during the 6th HCAA “Air Transport Today and Tomorrow” conference, Dritsakos informed that the modernization of air navigation systems and infrastructure facilities at the country’s airports was in full progress.

Significant increase in passenger traffic expected

According to Dritsakos, passenger traffic in 2023 is expected to record a significant increase compared to 2019. To demonstrate the upward trend he referred to April passenger traffic which was up by 20.3  percent over 2022 and by over 15  percent compared to 2019.

In the same month, the country’s 14 regional airports managed by Fraport exceeded pre-Covid 2019 levels handling a total of 1.6 million passengers while Athens International Airport (AIA) saw total passenger traffic in April rise by 7.6 percent over 2019 to 2.1 million travelers.

In the first four months of the year, passenger arrivals across all airports in Greece  increased by 7.4 percent compared to 2019 and by 38.4 percent over the same period in 2022. More specifically, in the January-April 2023 period, Greek airports handled a total (domestic and incoming) of 11,202,130 passengers compared to 8,096,732 in the same four-month period in 2022 and to 10,430,244 in 2019.

Athens International Airport.

Additionally Dritsakos went on to speak about the challenges impacting the aviation sector key among which are the growing global demand for air travel, the digitization of air navigation systems, new technologies, the reduction of pollutants in the environment, airport infrastructure, aviation legislation, and flight safety.

To address the challenges, he said the HCAA was modernizing its systems and facilities, increasing its staff to manage the increased demand, taking the necessary flight safety measures and promoting Greece’s policies and interests to international organizations.