Passenger traffic at Fraport Greece’s 14 main airports outside of Athens fell somewhat in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year. However, March data showed an increase when compared to the same month in record year 2019, while the number of passengers increased by 33% and 43%, respectively, when compared to March and the first quarter of 2022.
In March, the 14 airports handled 2.5% more passengers than the previous year, totaling 731,000. Corfu had the biggest growth rate, with the Ioannis Kapodistrias Airport welcoming 34% more people than in March 2019, for a total of 32,410.
Hania and Skiathos followed, with their airports transporting 33.5% more visitors. The Diagoras Airport in Rhodes saw a considerable rise in passenger traffic in the first month of this spring, handling 71,330 passengers, 31.3% more than in March 2019. However, traffic at Kavala airport fell by 24.2% to 4,835 people, while passengers at Santorini airport fell by a double-digit percentage (-16.4%) compared to four years ago.
International passenger traffic increased by 14.1% in March compared to the same month in 2019, to a total of 290,500 persons. The number of international passengers on Rhodes increased to 15,450, up from 219 in March 2019. In comparison to March 2019, Mykonos and Corfu received around 20 and 10 times more foreign visitors, with 864 and 10,520 visitors, respectively.
Domestic traffic, on the other hand, has declined by 4% (440,500) compared to March 2019. Domestic passenger numbers dropped the most in Kavala (-24.5%) and Santorini (-22.1%) compared to four years ago. Passenger traffic at Thessaloniki’s Makedonia Airport declined 4.1% to 420,200 individuals.
The 14 regional airports handled 1.89 million passengers in Q1, a 1.8% decrease from the same time in 2019.
