Greek Airports See Over 1.2 Million Passengers in January

Photo source: HCAA

Greece’s airports recorded a significant increase in passenger traffic in January 2022, the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (HCAA) said on Thursday.

According to HCAA’s provisional data, during the first month of the year, Greek airports welcomed 1,249,387 passengers, an increase of 223.6 percent compared to January 2021 (386,130 passengers).

Moreover, a large increase was recorded in foreign passenger arrivals last month. Specifically, Greek airports recorded an increase of 350.5 percent to 271,796 passengers compared to January 2021 when arrivals abroad had added up to only 60,328 passengers.

Flights to all airports in the country in January reached 18,218, of which 11,314 were domestic and 6,904 international, an increase of 70.1 percent, compared to the corresponding period of 2021 (10,708 flights).

Numbers still impacted by Covid-19 crisis

Despite the rise in both passengers and flights at Greek airports in January, it is obvious that numbers are still impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic crisis.

Comparing last month’s data with January 2019 (22,219 flights), when there were no restrictions due to the pandemic, aircraft traffic at Greek airports dropped by 18 percent.

With regard to passenger traffic, Greek airports in January 2021 saw a decrease by 41.5 percent compared to the same period before the crisis (January 2019 – 2,135,674 passengers).

Athens Airport

Photo source: Shutterstock

In January 2022, Athens International Airport’s (AIA) recorded a total of 772,766 passengers (domestic and international), an increase of 231.2 percent compared to the same month in 2021 (233,355) but below the respective 2019 levels by 44.5 percent.

“The airport’s passenger traffic continued to be substantially affected by the Covid-19 pandemic crisis and its impact on air travel in January 2022,” AIA said in an announcement.

Athens International Airport’s number of flights during January 2022 amounted to 10,921 (domestic and international flights), 88.6 percent over the respective 2021 levels (5,790 flights) but 20 percent below 2019 levels.