Greek Regional Airports See November Passenger Traffic Up by 15%

Passenger flow at the 14 Greek regional airports managed by Fraport Greece is recording a strong performance this month, with numbers up by 15 percent compared to last year.

According to recent data, the performance is mainly due to international travelers, given that they account for 80 percent of the total passenger traffic of the 14 airports (Aktio, Chania, Corfu, Kavala, Kefalonia, Thessaloniki, Zakynthos, Kos, Mytilini, Mykonos, Rhodes, Samos, Santorini, Skiathos).

Outlook for 2024 is encouraging

The company’s Executive Director, Commercial & Business Development, George Vilos, said the outlook for 2024 seems encouraging as well.

“Although we are not yet able to assess the effect of the Israel war, in terms of capacity (seats), 2024 will be at the same level as this year,” he said during a media briefing to Greek journalists.

“In some destinations we may see a additional seats and in others less but the airlines intend to put the same number of seats compared to this year, which we consider a very good development because it’s not possible for every year to be a record year,” Vilos highlighted.

Regarding the performance of the 14 Greek regional airports to date, forecasts see passenger traffic reaching 33.8 million by the end of the year compared to 31.2 million in 2022 and 30.2 million in pre-pandemic 2019.

According to the data, the total passenger traffic at the country’s 14 airports during the first 10 months of the year amounted to 32.3 million, a 8.4 percent increase compared to 2022 and some 12 percent rise compared to 2019.

The case of Mykonos and Santorini

Thirteen of the 14 Fraport-run airports recorded a rise except Mykonos. “Passenger traffic at Mykonos is marginally negative, at -1.9 percent, compared to last year,” he said, pointing out that in 2022 the island had seen an 11 percent increase compared to 2019. “So, we can say that for Mykonos, 2023 is a continuation of a very good last year,” he said.

Santorini on the other hand saw a marginal increase (0.5 percent) of passenger traffic during the January-October period. “However, passenger traffic on the island in 2022 was at +20 percent compared to 2019. If we look at the numbers by individual months, we’ll see that in July and August we recorded an increase of over 30 to 35 percent, up to 40 percent. So the 0.5 percent recorded at Santorini during the 10-month period, as an increase, is a very good performance,” he said.

Thessaloniki Airport sees full recovery

Commenting on the passenger traffic recorded at the airport of Thessaloniki, Vilos referred to a full recovery.

“Thessaloniki has registered a significant increase compared to last year, because it was the only destination in 2022 that did not manage to fully recover compared to 2019. Passenger traffic at Thessaloniki Airport in 2022 was at -15 percent, because on the one hand, we still had Covid restrictions in the first quarter of 2022 and on the other hand, it was affected by the war in Ukraine… In Thessaloniki there is usually significant traffic from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus… This year, however, we are seeing a full recovery and moving between 19.5-20 percent compared to last year,” he said.

Main markets

George Vilos, Executive Director, Commercial & Business Development for Fraport Greece. Photo © Greek Travel Pages (GTP)

The main markets of the 14 airports managed by Fraport Greece are the United Kingdom, Germany, Scandinavia, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, France, Austria, Israel and the Czech Republic.

“The UK and Germany are our key markets, but we have other markets with significant potential for further growth,” Vilos said, referring to Scandinavia, a market still recovering after the fall recorded during the pandemic period.

He also pointed out the significant passenger traffic increase from Poland (30 percent up) and France (42 percent up) compared to 2019.

The 14 Fraport-run airports serve 110 airlines from 42 markets and operate 900 routes per year. In 2022, 64 new routes were launched, of which 10 concerned Rhodes, 8 Chania, 7 Thessaloniki, 7 Corfu and 6 Aktio, an up-and-coming destination.