Eurocontrol: Greece’s Air Traffic Growth Hits 20% in July

Greece stands out among countries with impressive air traffic performance in July, according to the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol).

In July 2024, European air traffic increased by 4.5 percent compared to the same month in 2023, averaging 34,379 flights per day.

According to the European aviation safety agency, traffic levels reached 97 percent of those seen in 2019, despite up to 20 percent of the network’s airspace being unavailable due to the ongoing impacts of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

On a national level, Serbia led with a 31 percent increase compared to 2019, followed by Croatia (+29 percent), Austria (+23 percent), Hungary (+22 percent), Greece (+20 percent), and Bulgaria (+16 percent).

Italy, Turkey, and Spain also experienced significant traffic increases, surpassing pre-pandemic levels. Air traffic in Italy and Turkey rose by 12 percent, while Spain saw an increase of 11 percent.

Flights delays increase

According to the Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM), delays in July totaled 6,940,504 minutes, averaging 6.5 minutes per flight. This represented a 64 percent increase in delays compared to July 2023.

Eurocontrol attributed these high delay levels to a combination of factors: network saturation and capacity constraints, adverse weather conditions, reduced airspace availability due to the Ukraine conflict, and the major CrowdStrike blackout on July 19.