January Arrivals at Regional Airports in Greece Up by 7.4%, Thessaloniki in the Lead

Thessaloniki’s Makedonia Airport marked a 9.1 percent rise in arrivals in the first month of 2024, welcoming 406,000 passengers, according to data released this week by managing company Fraport Greece.

Based on the same data, Greece’s 14 regional airports under Fraport management reported rising arrival figures which were up by 7.4 percent compared to the same month a year ago. More specifically, passenger traffic through the country’s 14 regional airports came to 640,000 compared to 596,125 in January 2023.

Late last year, Fraport Greece said it expected its airports to handle 33.8 million passengers, compared to 31.19 million in 2022.

Domestic arrivals through the airports in January increased by 5.8 percent to 395,000 and international arrivals by 10.3 percent to 244,000.

In addition to Thessaloniki Airport, top performing airports in January included those of Kefalonia marking a 15.2 percent rise in arrivals, followed by Kavala (+14.3 percent), and Rhodes (9.6 percent)

Also increasing arrival figures were reported by the airports of Chania (1.7 percent), Corfu (5.9 percent), Zakynthos (1.8 percent), and Lesvos (4.4 percent).

On the downside, airports lagging behind included those in Aktion, where traffic dropped by 4.2 percent compared to the same month last year, Samos (-2.8 percent), Skiathos (-2.1 percent), and Kos (-0.6 percent).

Arrivals at Mykonos airport appeared to be recovering in the first month of the year marking a 0.6 percent rise compared to January 2023. Traffic through Santorini airport also marked a 7.5 percent increase compared to the year-ago period.

Flights through the country’s regional airports in January were also up by 6.5 percent with international flights up by 10.9 percent and domestic by 4.9 percent over the same month in 2023.

Most international flights came from Germany, followed by Cyprus, Italy, the United Kingdom and Austria.