Greek Airports See Passenger Traffic Down for 13th Month in a Row

Passenger traffic at all of Greece’s airports continued its downward trend in March due to the coronavirus (Covid-19).

“Passenger traffic has recorded a decrease for the 13th consecutive month, as restrictions for air travel are still in force,” the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (HCAA) said on Thursday.

According to March data, a total of 402,536 passengers passed through Greek airports last month, down by 60.9 percent, compared to 1,028,680 in the same period a year ago.

Greek airports in March handled 10,263 flights, marking a 38.5 percent decline against 16,670 flights in total in the corresponding 2020 period.

Photo source: Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (HCAA)

International passenger arrivals in Greece fell by 76.1 percent to 66,980 in March compared to 280,301 during the same month in 2020.

First three months of the year

Regarding the passenger traffic at Greek airports during January-March 2021, only 1.1 million passengers passed through Greek airports, recording a 79.4 percent drop compared to the first two months of 2020 (5.4 million).

Flights at Greece’s airports during the first three months of the year amounted to 28,946 (of which 21,624 were domestic and 7,322 were international), resulting to a decrease of 52.2 percent, compared to the corresponding period of 2020 when 60,601 flights had been recorded.

Following is more detailed data with regard to the drop in passenger traffic at Greece’s Athens International Airport (AIA) and 14 regional airports for March 2021 and the first three months of the year.

Athens Airport

March 2021 passenger traffic at Athens Airport was below the respective 2020 levels by 62.4 percent, recording only 198,033 passengers. Both domestic and international passenger traffic sharply reduced by 42 percent and 72.2 percent respectively compared to 2020.

During the January – March period, the number of passengers reached approximately 672,000, down by 80.7 percent compared to 2020.

Greek regional airports

Total passenger traffic figures for the 14 Greek regional airports managed by Fraport Greece declined by 59.9 percent to 117,970 in March 2021, compared to 293,888 during the same month in 2020.

International passenger arrivals fell by 78.4 percent to 23,278 from 107,997 the year before in March, while domestic traffic reached 94,692 passengers, down by 49.1 percent, compared to 185,891 in 2020.

During January-March 2021, passenger arrivals at the 14 Greek airports dropped by 78.8 percent to 320 thousand compared to 1.5 million in the corresponding period of 2020. Domestic passenger arrivals were down by 71.8 percent and international passenger arrivals were down by over 89.8 percent.

Fraport Greece manages the airports of Aktio, Chania, Corfu, Kavala, Kefalonia, Thessaloniki, Zakynthos, Kos, Mytilini, Mykonos, Rhodes, Samos, Santorini and Skiathos.