Tourism: air traffic reached 50% in 2019 in the 9 months of this year

Steady increase in air passenger traffic this year. Based on CAA data, for September an increase of 98,5% is recorded compared to the corresponding month of 2020, while especially and arrivals from abroad rose by 110.5%.

Also the overall statistics for the first nine months of 2021, from all airports in Greece, for the third consecutive month, record an increase of 62.3% compared to the same season last year, while compared to the corresponding 9-month period of January/September 2019, when no flight bans and restrictions were in force due to the pandemic, the drop is 49.3%.

In particular, the CAA's statistics on airport passenger traffic for the 9 months of January/September 2021 show that the total number of passengers carried reached 27.063.506, an increase of 62,3% compared to the same period in 2020, when 16,677,709 passengers were carried.

Regarding the number of flights at the country's airports, we also had a positive sign as they amounted to 293,416, of which 122,496 were domestic and 170,920 were international, showing an increase of 42.3% compared to the same period in 2020, when a total of 206,234 flights were operated.

Comparing the statistics with the 9 months (Jan/Sep) of 2019, when flights were 433,320, this year there is a 32.3% drop in aircraft traffic and total passenger traffic, which was 53,418,973 in 2019, while now for the same 9 months there is a 49.3% drop.

How September moved in September

The passenger traffic picture for September 2021 is positive. Specifically, in terms of international passenger arrivals this year in September came 2.352.788 travelers, while 1,117,524 passengers had arrived in September 2020, an increase of 110.5%.

The total number of flights (domestic and international) this year amounted to 57,846, also recording an increase of 59.6% compared to the same month in 2020, when 36,235 flights were operated. The total number of passengers handled (arrivals/departures) in September this year reached 6,335,953 passengers, up 98.5% compared to September 20’s passenger throughput of 3,192,570 passengers handled.

Comparing the aviation data from the September 2021 statistics with the September 2019 data, which did not include Covid-19 and flight restrictions, international passenger arrivals this year show a decrease of 26.9% (in September 2019 there were 3,217,115 international passengers) and total passenger traffic at Greek airports decreased by 25.7% (in September 2019 there were 8,523,771 transit passengers).