Flight, Passenger Arrivals to Greek Airports Outdo Pre-Covid 2019 Figures

Total air traffic through Greece’s airports increased in the first five months of the year by 28.4 percent over 2022 while surpassing pre-Covid 2019 levels by 10.8 percent, according to data released by the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (HCAA).

In the January-May period, Greece’s airports, which include Athens International Airport (AIA), 24 regional airports managed by the HCAA and 14 regional airports under the management of Fraport Greece, handled a total of 18,057,033 arrivals compared to 14,067,021 in 2022 and 16,298,548 in pre-Covid 2019.

Out of these figures, 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. Athens International Airport (AIA) handled 9.15 million passenger arrivals up by 39.9 percent over the same period in 2022 and by 5.9 percent against 2019.

In the January-May period, the country’s airports handled a total of 154,685 flights up by 7.1 percent over 2022 (144,433 flights) and by 4.8 percent against 2019 (147,662 flights).

In May, airport arrivals grew by 14.6 percent over 2022 and by 16.6 percent compared to 2019, handling 6,841,825 passengers against 5,970,289 last year and 5,868,304 in 2019.

Broken down, Greece’s 14 regional airports managed by Fraport in May handled 3.2 million passengers, exceeding 2022 numbers by 10.6 percent and pre-Covid 2019 levels by 5.7 percent. Athens International Airport (AIA) saw total passenger traffic in May rise by 23.4 percent over 2022 and 11.1 percent over pre-Covid 2019 levels to 2.5 million travelers.

The total number of flights through Greece’s airports also rose in May by 0.5 percent to 52,139 flights compared to 51,870 in 2022 and by 7.5 percent to 48,998 in 2019.

Meanwhile, 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 but incoming traffic to favorites Mykonos and Santorini is still slow.

Strong traffic flows and flight performance were also recorded in the first four months of 2023 across all airports in Greece with arrivals up by 7.4 percent compared to pre-Covid 2019 and by 38.4 percent over the same period in 2022 and a total of 102,274 flights.