Athens Airport Sees Record Performance with Over 26m Arrivals in Jan-Nov

Athens International Airport’s assistant, “Philos the Athenian” welcoming passengers to Athens. Photo source: AIA

Athens International Airport (AIA) continued to see a strong performance in passenger volumes in November, welcoming more than 1.89 million travelers.

Results for the first 11 months of the year are also high as the airport’s passenger traffic totaled 26.31 million, above the 2022 levels by 24.5 percent and higher than the respective
2019 levels by 9.9 percent.

More specifically, according to provisional data released by AIA, domestic traffic during January-November was over 2022 levels by 19.4 percent. Domestic traffic during that period also surpassed pre-COVID 2019 levels by 12.8 percent (8.2 million travelers).

International traffic also increased significantly, as more than 18 million tourists traveled to and from Athens Airport, a number strengthened by 26.9 percent compared to last year and by 8.7 percent compared to pre-pandemic numbers.

November alone was also a strong month for Athens International Airport. Specifically, the airport’s passenger traffic amounted to 1.89 million, 18.8 percent above November 2022, but also 13.9 percent higher than the pre-COVID November 2019.

Both domestic and international passenger traffic exceeded the levels of 2022 and 2019. More specifically, domestic traffic recorded an increase of 14.2 percent compared to 2022 and 18.9 percent compared to pre-pandemic numbers. Accordingly, international passengers increased by 21.1 percent compared to 2022 and by 11.7 percent compared to 2019.

Flight activity

Athens International Airport’s number of flights during the first eleven months of 2023 amounted to 225,334, recording an increase of 13.4 percent compared to 2022 and 6.8 percent above 2019 levels. Both domestic and international flights increased by 7.8 percent and 18.1 percent compared to 2022, and respectively by 10.2 percent and 4.2 percent compared to 2019.

It is noted that Athens Airport was among the airports in Europe reporting the highest increases in passenger traffic in October compared to the same month a year ago, according to data released by the Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe).