Greek Airports See Record-breaking Numbers in 2023

Passenger traffic across all airports in Greece, broke a new record in 2023 exceeding both 2022 and pre-pandemic 2019 levels, said the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (HCAA) on Tuesday.

According to HCAA tentative data for the year, Greece’s airports which include Athens International Airport (AIA), the 24 regional airports managed by the HCAA and the 14 regional airports run by Fraport Greece, saw passenger traffic (domestic and international) reach 72,613,658, up by 14 percent from 63,672,121 in 2022 and by 13.2 percent from 64,169,005 in 2019.

In terms of total flights in the January-December 2023 period, Greek airports handled a total of 561,869 flights, up from 552,492 in 2022 and from 526,155 in 2019. Total 12-month flight activity increased by 1.7 percent over 2022 and by 6.8 percent compared to pre-Covid 2019.

Reflecting signs of an extended tourism season, passenger arrivals in December 2023 were up by 16.2 percent to 2,839,289 from 2,442,727 in 2022 and by 13.4 percent compared to 2,503,206 in 2019.

Flight activity for the month also exceeded 2022 and 2019 levels with 24,583 international and domestic flights recorded, marking a 1.6 percent rise compared to 24,200 in 2022 and 23,509 in 2019 (+4.6 percent).

For the year, the country’s largest airport, Athens International Airport (AIA), handled a total of 28.1 million passengers, marking a 24 percent rise over 2022. International passenger traffic through Greece’s 14 regional airports managed by Fraport hit a new high in 2023, marking a 6.5 percent increase over 2022.