Athens Airport Among Europe’s Best Performing in August

Athens International Airport (AIA) continued to be among the best performing European airports in its category in August compared to the same period in pre-Covid 2019 driven by strong international travel, according to data released this week by the Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe).

More specifically, among similar-sized airports, AIA traffic was up by 8.4 percent. Other airports reporting the highest increases in passenger traffic in August and surpassing pre-Covid levels were: Paris-Orly (+10.8 percent), Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen (+8.8 percent), Lisbon (+5.4 percent), Palma de Mallorca (+2.1 percent), Antalya (+1.4 percent), and Dublin (+0.8 percent).

Other regional airports in Greece to exceed pre-pandemic volumes were those of Corfu, which recorded a 27 percent rise in August in its category and Santorini which marked a 32.5 percent rise.

Full passenger traffic recovery in sight for 2024

Overall across the European airport network, passenger traffic in August was down by 3.4 percent over August 2019 but up by 11.6 percent when compared to August 2022. In August, international traffic rose by 13.2 percent and domestic by 6 percent.

ACI analysts note that airports in Europe are recovering at a very different pace, which they said, is unprecedented.

Olivier Jankovec, Director General ACI Europe. Photo source: ACI Europe.

“While close to 50 percent of Europe’s airports have now exceeded their pre-pandemic passenger volumes – with some even experiencing exponential growth – all others remain below, with some still struggling to recover more dynamically. This means that many airports might not get back to their pre-pandemic volumes before 2026, or even later,” said ACI Europe Director General Olivier Jankovec.

Source: ACI Europe.

Looking ahead, ACI expects passenger traffic this year to reach 95.5 percent of pre-pandemic volumes, revising upward its December 2022 forecast from 91 percent.

It also expects full passenger traffic recovery in 2024 and not in 2025 as previously forecast.

Passenger traffic at Europe’s airports is set to stand at +1.4 percent over 2019 levels in 2024.

ACI is also forecasting that passenger traffic by 2027 will reach 9.2 percent over 2019 levels.