Passenger traffic at the Athens International Airport (AIA) over the Jan-Nov 2017 period has exceeded the figure for all of 2016. Specifically, the first 11 months of 2017 posted an increase of 8.8 percent from the corresponding period of 2016, exceeding 20 million passengers.
Specifically, 20.3 million passengers used the Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport of Athens from Jan. 1, 2017 to Nov. 30, 2017. International air traffic was up by 12 percent, and domestic traffic by 3.1 percent.
For November 2017 alone, one of the "low season" months of the year, 1.45 million passengers passed through the airport, up 8.7 percent from November 2016. Conversely, domestic traffic during the same month dropped by 1.4 percent, yoy, whereas international traffic boasted a brisk increase of 14.6 percent.
Meanwhile, beyond Greece's biggest and busiest airport, one regional airport that was not included in 14 facilities awarded to a German-Greek concessionaire last April, the Nea Anchialos National Airport airport near the central port city of Volos, has recently attracted more attention by international carriers for next year's summer season.
Easyjet debuts an air link connecting London to the specific airport in the summer of 2018, with passenger traffic to determine whether the specific route is expanded. Chelo arrives at the end of May, also connecting central Greece and Volos with London with two flights a week.
TUI has also scheduled two flights a week from Brussels, while Austrian will connect Vienna with the Volos area every Wednesday, and Condour's Munich route will be scheduled for every Saturday.
Efforts now are aimed at securing a route to and from Cyprus for the upcoming Easter season in the spring.
