Athens Airport Sees Summer 2021 Supporting its Progressive Recovery from Covid-19

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Passenger traffic at Athens International Airport (AIA) further improved in July, as the lifting of movement restrictions since mid-May 2021 and the peak summer holiday period, are supporting a progressive recovery.

Of course, as in previous months, the airport’s passenger traffic in July continued to be substantially affected by the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic crisis and its impact on air travel.

According to AIA’s latest data, the total traffic in July amounted to 1,854,005 passengers, being below the respective July 2019 levels by 37.8 percent. However, compared to July 2020, traffic increased by 107,5 percent.

Domestic market

The improvement was more obvious in the domestic market, where traffic was below the respective 2019 levels by 26.1 percent, while international demand also showed recovery signs, with a 43 percent decline vs the corresponding 2019 traffic.

Overall, during the seven-month period January through July 2021, the airport’s passenger traffic totalled 4.5 million, approximately, a decline of 5.7 percent compared to 2020, and 68.3 percent compared to 2019, as a result of the sharp traffic drop suffered since March 2020 due to the impact of the pandemic.

Analytically, domestic passengers exceeded the 2020 levels by 9.6 percent, while international passengers were below the respective 2020 levels by 14.4 percent. Both domestic and international travellers were below the same period 2019 by 56.8 percent and 73.4 percent, respectively.