Greek Airports Handle 17m Passengers in First Five Months of 2019

Athens International Airport

Greek airports handled 17 million passengers in the first five months of the year, recording a 5.6 percent rise against 2018 and a 6.2 percent increase in the number of flights, the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (HCAA) said on Wednesday.

Airports countrywide welcomed an additional 904,230 travelers to 17,061,502 in the January-May 2019 period compared to 16,157,272 in the same period in 2018.

Makedonia Airport. Photo Source: Thessaloniki Hotels Association

At the same time, the number of flights into Greek airports increased to 153,960 – broken down: 73,638 domestic and 80,322 international – marking a 6.2 percent rise against 2018 at 144,932 flights.

For May, a total of 6,351,675 travelers went through Greek airports, up by 1.2 percent, with flights up by 2.5 percent to 51,923 compared to 50,635 in the same month in 2018.

The number of international arrivals rose by 0.7 percent to 2,594,879 against  2018 and 2,577,111.

The airports of Athens (2,273,809), Heraklio (854,783), Thessaloniki (605,331), Rhodes (593,322), and Corfu (346,413) were the busiest in May, handling the brunt of incoming vacationers.

Airport of Araxos. Photo source: Region of Western Greece

Meanwhile, Alexandroupolis, Kastelorizo and Araxos airports recorded the largest percentage increase in passenger traffic in the first five months of 2019.

Alexandroupolis airport also recorded the largest increase at 32 percent in passenger traffic for the January-May period handling 90,837 passengers compared to 68,828 in 2018, followed by Kastelorizo  (28.5 percent) and Araxos (26.6 percent).