The performances of our country’s Greek airports are impressive, with the passenger traffic figures for the past seven months predicting a record year in 2024.

According to the data, we have the above interval +9.5% increase in passenger traffic compared to last year for all the country’s airports where commercial flights are conducted (39 airports: 24 CAA, 14 FRAPORT GREECE, AIA).

Specifically, the total number of passengers during the period January – July 2024 reached 42,538,219, compared to 38,833,074 passengers in the corresponding period of January – July 2023, while according to aviation market executives, August is expected to be a month of “takeoff” in passenger traffic as well as in flights, (official data expected in the coming days).

After all, IATA in its online post states “Greece continues its positive trend in international air arrivals this summer, making the country one of the top European tourism destinations”. About 9,401,000 passengers travel to Greece between June and September 2024, exceeding international air ticket sales in 2023 by 9.5%, the Union underlines. This means Greece sees an increase of 812,000 air travelers this summer.

It is also worth noting that on Saturday, August 10, 2024, the Air Traffic Control of the Civil Aviation Service (CAA) served 4,944 flights in the Athens FIR (aircraft arrivals, departures and transits/overflights), a number that is a new all-time record.

AIA – Heading for record passenger traffic in 2024

For the airport “ELeftherios Venizelos” everything shows that this year is heading for a new record both in terms of passenger traffic and flights to Athens. Overall, during the first seven months of the year, the airport’s traffic reached 17.62 million passengers, marking an increase of 14.6%. Passenger traffic, both domestic and international, showed an increase of 8.0% and 17.6% respectively. The number of flights at Athens International Airport during the first seven months of 2024 reached 150,344, recording an increase of 12.4% compared to the corresponding period in 2023. Both domestic and international flights increased by 5.5% and 17.8% compared to 2023.

The image at the 14 Regional Airports of Fraport Greece

Regarding the 14 Regional Airports of Fraport Greece passenger traffic “flew” in the first seven months. According to the company’s data, more than 19 million passengers used one of the 14 airports it manages.

Specifically, 19.11 million passengers were transported, recording an increase of 6.4% compared to the corresponding period of 2023 where we had 17.95 million passengers, (ie 1.2 million more passengers).

The first airport in motion emerges “Macedonia” of Thessaloniki with 4.07 million passengers and an increase of 5.2%. In second place comes Rhodes airport with 3.62 million and third is Corfu airport with 2.25 million. Fourth is Chania airport with 2.11 million and fifth is Kos airport with 1.55 million passengers.

Regarding the countries that have the largest combined passenger traffic at the 14 airports of Fraport Greece, Great Britain remains consistently first and by a large margin with 1.31 million, second Germany with 769,589, third Italy with 636,027, fourth Poland with 370,199 and fifth is the Netherlands with 221,553. And next

France, Denmark, Czech Republic, Austria and Sweden.

In terms of flights, we have Great Britain first with 7,965, Germany with 5,007, Italy with 4,333, Poland with 2,036 and France with 1,674. In countries outside of Europe, we had notable traffic in flights from the United Arab Emirates with 116, from Qatar with 38 and from Armenia with 28.

The 24 airports managed by the CAA

Passenger traffic rose +5% in 24 airports managed by the CAAaccording to the statistics for the seven months January-July 2024.

In particular, the total number of passengers (international and domestic arrivals and departures) in the first seven months of the year reached 6,054,816 passengers, compared to 5,768,484 passengers in the corresponding period of 2023.

At the same time, the most significant increases in passenger traffic at the airports managed by CAA in July 2024 compared to last year were recorded at Kasos airport +89.8%, at Milos airport with +33%, at Naxos airport with +30%, and at the airport Sitias with +27.7%. The state airport of Heraklion “Nikos Kazantzakis” served 1,618,073 passengers this July, i.e. an increase of +3% compared to last year. Regarding the number of aircraft movements (domestic and international aircraft arrivals and departures) in the seven months of January-July 2024, for all of the country’s 39 airports whose air traffic control is mainly exercised by the CAA, there was an increase of +6.9% in compared to the corresponding period January – July 2023. In particular, 328,272 flights were carried out, compared to 306,982 flights in the seven months of 2023.

INSETE – International Air Arrivals

International air arrivals in Greece remain on the rise, according to the statistical report of INSETE Intelligence.

In the period January-July 2024, 14.4 million international air arrivals were recorded, surpassing the levels of January-July 2023 (13.3 million), showing an increase of +8.2% or +1.1 million arrivals.

Last January, 485 thousand arrivals were recorded, showing an increase of 25.3%/+98 thousand international arrivals. In February of the same year, 462 thousand international arrivals were recorded, showing an increase of 19.5%/+75 thousand. In March, international air arrivals were 656 thousand, showing an increase of 13.7%/+79 thousand. In April 1.4 million international arrivals were recorded, showing an increase of 5.6%/+77 thousand. In May, international air arrivals reached 2.9 million, increasing by 12.7%/+323 thousand. In June, the international air arrivals reached 3.8 million, an increase of 5.6%/+203 thousand. Finally, in July international air arrivals reached 4.6 million, an increase of 5.3%/+235 thousand .in relation to 2023.

How traffic is recorded by airport

In the 7th month of 2024, at Athens International Airport “El. Venizelos” recorded 4.5 million international air arrivals, showing an increase of 12.5%/+500 thousand compared to the same period in 2023.

It was followed by Thessaloniki airport, where 1.4 million international air arrivals were recorded, showing an increase of 3.1%/+41 thousand.

Heraklion airport registered 2 million international arrivals, showing an increase of 6.5%/+124 thousand.

At Chania airport, 848 thousand international arrivals were recorded, showing an increase of 7.4%/+58 thousand.

At Rhodes airport 1.6 million international arrivals were recorded, showing an increase of 15.4%/+217 thousand, and at Kos airport arrivals reached 719 thousand, showing an increase of 4.2%/+29 thousand.

On the contrary, at Karpathos airport, air arrivals were 54 thousand, registering a marginal decrease of 1.1%/-1 thousand.

At Corfu airport, international air arrivals reached 1.1 million, showing an increase of 6.5%/+65 thousand.

At Zakynthos airport, 576 thousand arrivals were recorded, showing an increase of 5.9%/+32 thousand.

Kefalonia airport recorded an increase of 2%/+4 thousand with a total of 208 thousand arrivals while the increase at Aktion airport amounted to 1.3%/+3 thousand with a total of 222 thousand arrivals.

Mykonos (-4.8%/-14 thousand) and Santorini (-0.7%/-5 thousand) airports recorded a decrease, with international arrivals at 282 thousand and 408 thousand, respectively.

At Kalamata airport, 82 thousand international air arrivals were recorded, showing an increase of 11.7%/+9 thousand.

40 thousand international arrivals were registered at Araxos airport, showing an increase of 13.8%/+5 thousand.

Skiathos airport recorded 154 thousand arrivals, marking an increase of 8%/+11 thousand, while Samos airport recorded 76 thousand international air arrivals, marking an increase of 3.7%/+3 thousand.

On the contrary, a decrease of 8%/-6 thousand was recorded at Kavala airport, with air arrivals reaching 65 thousand.

Finally, at Mytilini airport, international air arrivals reached 44 thousand, marking an increase of 42.6%/+13 thousand.

Domestic arrivals

During the considered period of 2024, 5.4 million domestic air arrivals were recorded, compared to 4.9 million in the corresponding period of 2023, showing an increase of 7.8%/+400 thousand arrivals.

In particular, in January 504 thousand arrivals were recorded, showing an increase of 6.5%/+31 thousand passengers. In February, 506 thousand arrivals were recorded, showing an accelerated increase of 10.9%/+50 thousand. In March, air arrivals stood at 608 thousand, showing an increase of 12.5%/+67 thousand. In April, the increase slowed to 3.4%/+23 thousand, while 704 thousand arrivals were recorded. In May, air arrivals reached 916k, showing accelerated growth of 11.6%/+95k. In June, air arrivals reached 1 million, with growth slowing to 6.9%/+ 65 thousand. Finally, 1.1 million arrivals were recorded in July 2024, showing an increase of 5.4%/+57 thousand compared to July 2023.

Domestic arrivals by airport

In the same period, 2.6 million air arrivals were recorded at Athens International Airport, showing an increase of 7.5%/+180 thousand compared to the corresponding period of 2023.

It was followed by Thessaloniki airport, where 681 thousand air arrivals were recorded, showing an increase of 8.5%/+54 thousand.

At Heraklion airport there was an increase of 49 thousand/+11.5%, with air arrivals amounting to 476 thousand, while at Chania airport 255 thousand arrivals were recorded, showing an increase of 7.4%/+18 thousand.

At the airport of Rhodes, 256 thousand air arrivals were recorded, showing an increase of 7.1%/+17 thousand, and in Kos 93 thousand arrivals, with an increase of 5.8%/+5 thousand.

At Karpathos airport there was a decrease of 9.3%-2 thousand, with air arrivals amounting to 20 thousand.

In Santorini, air arrivals reached 368 thousand, recording an increase of 9.5%/+32 thousand, while in Mykonos, 151 thousand air arrivals were recorded, recording an increase of 3.2%/+5 thousand.

In Paros, arrivals reached 87 thousand, marking an increase of 8.2%/+7 thousand.

In Corfu, air arrivals reached 114 thousand, registering an increase of 12.3%/+13 thousand, while in Zakynthos and Kefalonia 29 thousand and 32 thousand arrivals were recorded respectively, recording an increase of 3.8%/+ 4 mm and 8.8%/+3 thousand

1 thousand arrivals were recorded at Aktion airport, showing an increase of 41.6%.

In Kalamata there were 8 thousand arrivals, marking a decrease of 8.6% compared to 2023, while in Samos the arrivals reached 53 thousand, marking an increase of 4.9%/+5 thousand.

At Skiathos airport, 16 thousand arrivals were recorded, showing a marginal decrease of 0.8%.

At Kavala airport, there was an increase of 10.1%/+2 thousand, with air arrivals amounting to 17 thousand, while at Mytilini airport 109 thousand air arrivals were recorded, marking an increase of 2.2%/+2 thousand