Greece Sees Robust Arrival Numbers in First Months of 2022

Photo source: HCAA

International arrivals to Greece increased sharply in the first two months of 2022, recording a 261.6 percent rise over 2021 to 2.6 million passengers against 718,330 a year earlier, said the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (HCAA) on Wednesday.

The two-month figure is still 37.8 percent below pre-pandemic 2019, when Greece welcomed 4.17 million passengers in the same period.

According to HCAA data, the number of flights to Greek airports in January and February rose by 75.5 percent over 2021 to 35,095 in total (22,063 domestic and 13,032 international). 

In 2021, Greek airports handled a total of 19,998 flights in the period under review, down by 16.7 percent over pre-Covid levels and 42,149 flights.

February: A winning month

In the meantime, February appeared to be a winning month for Greek airports with data showing a strong 305.7 percent increase in passenger arrivals to 1,347,795 compared to 332,200 passengers in the same month a year ago.

Greek airports recorded a total of 16,877 flights in February, 10,749 of which were domestic and 6,128 international, marking an 81.7 percent increase over February 2021 and 9,290 flights.

International arrivals up by 537.2%

Photo source: Shutterstock

International arrivals in February increased by 537.2 percent or by 321,225 passengers compared to the same month a year ago and 50,410 arrivals.

Comparing February 2022 flight data with the same month in pre-Covid 2019, the number of flights were down by 15.3 percent. 

In total, passenger traffic (arrivals and departures) in February was down by  34 percent over the same month in 2019, when there were 2,042,595 arrivals.