Int’l Arrivals to Greece’s Regional Airports Rise in January-May

The number of international arrivals at Greece’s 14 regional airports increased in the first five months of the year compared to the same period in 2022, according to data released this week by managing company Fraport Greece, but incoming traffic to favorites Mykonos and Santorini is still slow.

According to the data, in the first five months of the year Fraport-managed Greek airports handled 6.7 million passengers, 19.5 percent over 2022 and 5.2 percent over 2019. In May alone, the 14 regional airports managed handled 3.2 million passengers, exceeding 2022 numbers by 10.6 percent and pre-Covid 2019 levels by 5.7 percent.

With regard to arrivals on islands, Rhodes airport marked the largest increase (17 percent), handling a total of 875,716 arrivals in the first five months of 2023 up from 748,190 in 2022. The number of flights was also up by 8.2 percent to 5,978. In April, traffic through Rhodes airport increased by 31 percent.

Following Rhodes, the largest increases in incoming air traffic to islands from January to May were reported at the airports of Skiathos (15 percent, 44,994 arrivals), Chania (10.7 percent, 445,209 arrivals), Zakynthos (+13.3 percent, 204,025 arrivals) and Corfu (8.5 percent, 464,113 arrivals).

On the downside, inbound traffic through the airport of Mykonos was down by 20.4 percent over the same period in 2022 in the January-May period, with the airport handling 89,857 passengers compared to 112,932 last year.

Analysts attribute the decline to the plunge in April arrivals, which were down by 29.1 percent and in May by 17.5 percent. Fewer flights also touched down at Mykonos airport in the five months to May, down by 31 percent to 868 from 1,263 in 2022.

Santorini airport also marked a decline in international arrivals in the five-month period under review to 214,654 passengers from 222,893 a year earlier down by 3.7 percent. Traffic was also down by 6.4 percent in April and by 3.2 percent in May, while the number of flights was down by 13.5 percent to 1,526 from 1,765.