Airlines Schedule 3.3 Million Seats for Greece in May

Airlines have scheduled an average 3.3 million seats for Greece this month up by 15 percent over the same month a year ago, according to INSETE, the Greek Tourism Confederation’s (SETE) research body.

Based on data provided by INSETE’s Air Data Tracker, the increase reflects a strong demand for Greece this year with May accounting for 12 percent of total inbound airline seats. For the March-October period, airlines have scheduled 27 million seats on inbound flights up by 8.6 percent over 2023.

Driving demand so far this year are the markets of the UK, up by 11.5 percent, Germany (+22.6 percent), Italy (+30 percent), France (+13.3 percent), the US (+40 percent), Spain (+37 percent), and Turkey (+18.3 percent).

Supported by incoming charter flights the airports of Heraklion (Crete), Rhodes, Thessaloniki, Corfu, Kos, Chania, Zakynthos, Santorini, Mykonos and Athens are recording the highest traffic.

Greek tourism professionals are expecting a strong season ahead. Indicative of the demand, Greek airports handled a total of 1.6 million international air arrivals in the first three months of the year exceeding Q1 2023 levels by 18.7 percent or 253 thousand additional arrivals.

Athens International Airport (AIA) handled 1.2 million international arrivals marking a 20.4 percent rise over the same period last year or an additional 197,000 arrivals.

Thessaloniki airport also reported a 13.3 percent rise in the period under review with 371,000 arrivals.