Athens Airport Among Europe’s Top Performers in July

Photo © AIA

Athens International Airport (AIA) was among Europe’s best performers in July 2015, according to a traffic report released yesterday, by European airport trade body, ACI Europe.

The ACI Europe Airport Traffic report, which includes network, low cost and charter flights, found that in July, Athens airport reported an increase in passenger traffic, ranking third after Istanbul and Ankara airports.

The July data included 209 airports representing more than 88 percent of European air passenger traffic.

In Group 2 with total annual traffic between 10 and 25 million passengers, Athens airport reported a 20.6 percent rise, third after Istanbul SAW, which recorded a 28.5 percent increase and Ankara with 25.7 percent growth. Athens was followed by Tel Aviv at 18.9 percent and Dublin at 6.9 percent.

Photo: AIA

During July, passenger traffic at Europe’s airports grew by 6.7 percent, with EU airports welcoming an average 6.4 percent rise in passenger traffic and Slovenia, Ireland, Hungary, Romania and Luxembourg in the lead.

In the meantime, passenger traffic at non-EU airports bounced back after several months of very weak growth, with a 7.6 percent rise.

Airports reporting the highest increase in passenger traffic for July (compared with July 2014) were Istanbul IST at 16.9 percent, Madrid at 13.1 percent, Amsterdam at 8.4 percent, Frankfurt at 6.6 percent and London LGW at 6.4 percent – all in Group 1, ie airports welcoming more than 25 million passengers per year.

ACI Europe is the European region of Airports Council International (ACI), the only worldwide professional association of airport operators, representing over 450 airports in 45 European countries. Member airports handle 90 percent of commercial air traffic in Europe, welcoming over 1.7 billion passengers each year.