Athens International Airport: passenger traffic in 2023 returns to pre-Covid levels

The growth of passenger traffic of Eleftherios Venizelos Airport in Athens continues steadily. For the second consecutive month, the 2019 traffic was exceeded, showing that the capital’s airport is steadily returning to high performances.

Let us recall that 2019 had recorded the ultimate record of passenger traffic with over 25.5 million passengers. In the first two months of 2023 the airport’s passenger traffic has increased by 3.1% compared to 2019. This means that a total of 2.8 million passengers, of which overseas passengers are 1.9 million (increase 4 , 3% in the two months) and the domestic are 898 thousand. (an increase of 0.7% in the two months).

Athens Airport‘s passenger traffic during February 2023 amounted to 1.36 million, increased by 62.4% compared to 2022 levels (period during which the negative effect of Covid -9 pandemic was still strong) , but also it increased by 2.3% compared to pre-Covid-19 levels of 2019.

Both domestic and international passenger traffic exceeded 2022 levels by 37.3% and 78.1% respectively. Compared to 2019, domestic passengers dropped by 0.5%, while overseas passengers rose 3.6%.

Numerous new routes

The optimistic messages of passenger traffic come to be added to forecasts for a year with a very positive sign with new flights and new companies. One of the most interesting new connections is with Play for the Athens-Reykjavik direct route. The two European capitals, which are geographically located at both ends of Europe, will be connected for the first time.

More specifically, in 2023, 13 new Athens airport connections are planned by three airlines and 15 additional routes to existing connections.

The new connections for 2023 are for the following cities: Baku, Bratislava, Damman (S. Arabia), Kalamata, Ljubljana, Newcastle, Olvia (Sardinia), Palma de Mallorca, Sevilla (Aegean) Volotea, Kuwait Airways and Aegean, Shanghai (Air China).

There are also many routes that have been returning since 2019 with cities such as Pisa, Split and Marrakesh (Aegean) and Lille (Aegean in addition to Sky Express and Volotea.

The bet on AIA is first to surpass the performance of 2022 which was 22.73 million travelers. The second bet is to overcome the 2019 traffic which means that the airport has to serve about 3 million passengers more than last year. In the first two months it was achieved and it remains to be seen whether this trend continues in the coming months.