Air transport: Athens among 13 airports pushing Europe above 2019 levels

Passenger traffic in European air transport was at 2019 levels in the first half of 2024, with total passengers reaching 482 million, marking a marginal increase (0.7%) from the corresponding pre-pandemic 6 months.

This trend was contributed by the increased - compared to 2023 - passenger traffic in the first half of all European countries - with the exception of Sweden (-0.5%) - with Greece and Athens being hubs of great importance in this upward trend.

According to statistical data presented by Eurostat, coming from Eurocontrol (reflecting national and intra-European air transport, and departure data without double counting), Greece in the first half of 2024 experienced an increase in passengers of 11.5%, and their number reached 30.7 million, as a result of which our country belongs to the 8 EU countries with an increase in passengers of 10% to 20% (Malta, Hungary, Estonia, Poland, Italy, Spain and Germany). The highest increase was recorded by the Czech Republic (+23.6%), Slovenia (+21.7%) and Croatia (+20.9%).

At the same time, Athens Airport was ranked 13th in the ranking of the top 30 in Europe in terms of the total annual number of passengers transported in 2023. According to the same data, Athens Airport recorded 28.3 million. passengers in 2023, while in the first half of 2024 13.9 million, increased by 15.5% from the corresponding half of 2023.

The top airport in the ranking is Charles de Gaulle in Paris, which maintained first place throughout the period under review (January 2023 – June 2024).

Steady recovery path after the pandemic

Both in terms of flights and passengers, 2023 and the first half of 2024 show a progressively upward trend in air transport in Europe that, in some places, even exceeded 2019 levels.

In terms of flights, compared to 2019, the first half of 2024 marked a recovery path, following 2023, with January recording the largest decline for 2024 (-13.5%), which was then limited to below 10% for February and June. The smallest decrease was observed in May 2024 and was around 3.7% compared to the corresponding month of 2019.

Regarding passenger levels, for the first time since the pandemic, February 2024 recorded an increase (1%) compared to February 2019.

Intra-European air transport strengthened

During the second quarter of last year, 284 million passengers were recorded in European air transport, up by 9% compared to the corresponding period of 2023. International air transport outside the EU represented 49% of all passengers transported at the EU level, while the share of international intra-European and national transport was 35.9% and 15.1% respectively. Compared to the corresponding period in 2023, intra-European transport showed a significant increase of 14.6%, followed by non-EU air transport (+6.7%) and national air transport (+4.1%).

At the same time, passenger traffic showed an increase for each month of 2023 and 2024 (first 6 months) compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, signaling an upward trend in the sector. In particular, January, February, and March 2023 had a strong increase compared to the corresponding levels of 2022, with the largest increase observed in January (+81.5%). Between June 2023 and December 2023, the increases were in the order of 11-12% for each month. A similar trend was observed in the first half of 2024, with increases of 8.8% in January, 13.1% in February, 12.1% in March, 7.6% in April, 10% in May and 8.4% in June.

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