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Just -5.1% passengers in July at Athens airport compared to 2019

By Fotis Fotinos

As the summer season reaches its peak, traffic at Greek airports approaches 2019 levels.

The passenger traffic of Athens Airport, during July, reached 2.83 million, decreased by 5.1% compared to the traffic of July 2019.

In fact, domestic passenger traffic, which reached 0.91 million, approached the levels of 2019, registering a slight drop of 0.3%.

Accordingly, international passenger traffic, which amounted to 1.91 million, showed a single-digit decrease of 7.2%, compared to 2019.

Overall, during the first seven months of the year, the airport’s passenger traffic reached 11.8 million and remained down 17.1% compared to 2019.

Domestic passengers remained below 2019 levels by 10.5% (3.93 million) and international passengers by 20% respectively (7.87 million).

In the summer season, Athens airport serves, according to estimates, eight new destinations (Bilbao, Birmingham, Boston, Florence, Eindhoven, Leipzig, Nice and Turin), six new airlines (Jet2, Condor, Flyr, AirAlbania, Euroflyer and TUS Airways) and 44 new routes.

Big rise from the US market

In fact, there is a large increase in scheduled flights from some key, for Greek tourism, markets compared to 2019. Specifically, from the USA, the increase is estimated to reach 60%.

The US market is very important for Athens Airport. It is indicative that in the record year for AIA, 2019, the American market was the 1st “reservoir” of international passengers, with almost 700,000 passengers, with the second and by a significant difference, that of the United Kingdom.

However, even in 2021, a year in which Athens airport recovered almost 50% of the traffic of 2019, the American market was the second largest “reservoir” of international passengers, with almost 300,000 passengers and despite the ban on flights to and from the US for long time.

For this year, scheduled seats exceed 2019 seats by 30%, following reinforcements by Delta Airlines, American Airlines and United Airlines.

Also, this summer season, flights from the UK market are expected to increase by 13% and from countries such as Austria by 35% and France by 9%.

Source: Capital

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