the Athenian Summer is back !!!
Fast and strong traffic recovery from June to August, 60% of 2019 passenger traffic proves the resilience and attractiveness of the Athenian market
With over 5mio PAX in just 3 months ( June to August ) added to the already 1.5mio PAX from Jan to May, Athens is on the path for strong recovery. Total PAX traffic up to the 15th of September 2021 at 7,5mio and Athens already at 93% of total 2020 traffic volume (Jan to Dec ).
During the peak Summer months, June to August, International traffic grew by +139% and Domestic by +73% vs. same period 2020, with Domestic at 70% levels of Jun-Aug 2019 and International at 53% levels. In terms of aircraft movements (flights), recovery volumes for Jun-Aug are even stronger with Domestic flights at +56% vs. 2020 ( -17% vs. 2019) and International at +125% vs. 2020 ( -23% vs. 2019).
From June to August 2021, Athens network is rebuilt at a large extent with the airport offering non-stop services to 49 Countries, connecting 142 airport destinations, served by 59 airlines. Compared to Jun-Aug 2019 Athens achieved to reconnect and serve 90% of its network and airlines.
Despite the unprecedented crisis in Aviation, Athens achieved significant Route Developments including, the addition of 2 NEW US destinations, Atlanta (ATL) with Delta Airlines and Washington (IAD) with United Airlines, NEW service to New York (JFK) offered by American Airlines with Athens connected 9 times daily to the US, a first for Greece & Athens. In addition to the Long Haul developments, home based Sky Express entered the International market, adding services to Larnaca, Paris (CGD), Brussels, London (LHR) and Rome (FCO), plus offering NEW services to Thessaloniki and Rhodes. Also, Sky Express massively increased capacity as A320 NEOs entered the fleet supplementing the already well established turboprop fleet of the airline. WizzAir Abu Dhabi selected Athens as its 1st European destination, Blue Air introduced a NEW Romanian destination Bacau and offered New services to Bucharest (OTP), while LOT enhanced its Athens offering with NEW service to Katowice, supplementing Warsaw services.
The majority of the International markets (on non-stop scheduled PAX services) for Athens, achieved significant recovery volumes (vs. Jun-Aug 2019) with Austrian surpassing by 10% its 2019 record and US just at 89% of 2019 volumes. Belgium and Netherlands are following in recovery with 73% and 71% respectively, while France and Germany managed to recover 69% and 65% of their 2019 volumes. Cyprus and Switzerland also managed to recover over 60% of their respective 2019 volumes.
Based on ACI Europe (Rapid Data Exchange Programme) with data available for June and July 2021 for all airports with traffic above 10mio PAX in 2019, Athens achieved one of the strongest growth rates ranking 6th with the first 4 airports in Russia and Turkey. Compared to Western European airports however, Athens ranks 1st as a Capital city airport, or 2nd behind Gran Canaria Airport among all Western European airports.
With September 2021 (01-15 Sep) PAX traffic recovery running at +99% of Sep 20 or just at -32% of Sep 19, the remaining of the Summer season seems highly promising.
Stay tuned ... for Autumn at the city of Athens !!