March air traffic: Up on last year's March, which had Easter

With Athens and Thessaloniki being the only destinations that recorded significant traffic from abroad, Greek passengers were the ones who "saved" the performance of regional airports this March. Thus, in the third month of the year, despite the fact that it marks the start of the first charter flights to popular destinations and the opening of some hotels, the performance of the 14 airports remained at low levels.
An important factor to take into account is the date of Easter. Last year, Catholic Easter was on March 31, 2024, which had a positive impact on travel traffic in March. This year, Easter is on April 20, 2025, and it coincides with the Orthodox; therefore, any increase recorded this year, even if small, can be considered positive, given the circumstances.

Specifically, this year in March, 831 thousand travelers were transported, recording an increase of only 1.3% on an annual basis. It is worth noting that last year, March had recorded an increase in passenger traffic by 12.2% at the 14 regional airports (16.1% in international traffic and 9.7% in domestic traffic).

Domestic traffic and international traffic recorded a similar percentage change, at 1.3% and 1.4% respectively. More specifically, 489 thousand travelers were recorded in domestic traffic, while 342 thousand were transported in international traffic at the 14 airports.

Santorini, Mykonos, and Rhodes among the “losers”

In more detail, Santorini is undoubtedly among the “losers” of the month, with passenger traffic recording a 28.5% drop. Domestic traffic on the island was at -27.2% and international traffic at -60.7% compared to 2024 due to the effects of intense seismic activity.

Mykonos also continues to record losses, with a 11.6% drop. Domestic traffic there recorded a greater drop (-11.8%), while international traffic also had a negative sign (-3.8%).

The performance of Rhodes Airport was also negative, with total passenger traffic at -4.6%. Although domestic traffic recorded an increase of 7.3%, losses from abroad (37.1%) more than covered the positive sign.

Kos recorded a marginal increase (0.3%), with international traffic "evaporating" (-86.3%) and domestic traffic at +5.8%. Aktio recorded the largest percentage drop (-37.4%). March also closed with a negative sign for the airports of Chania (-0.2%), Corfu (-14.3%), Samos (-0.6%), and Skiathos (-6.4%).

On the other hand, the "gaining" destinations were Kavala (+17.3%), Kefalonia (+0.2%), Zakynthos (+1.8%) and Mytilene (+1%), although the traffic came almost exclusively from within.

The first three months of the year

On a quarterly basis, passenger traffic at the 14 regional airports increased by 2.8% year-on-year, with domestic traffic recording a marginal increase of 0.3% and international traffic at +6.7% compared to the corresponding period of January - March 2024. However, March's performance affected the results of the quarter, which were at similar levels. Santorini airport recorded losses of 27.5%, with Mykonos closely following at -24.4 %. Aktion also recorded the largest percentage drop on a quarterly basis (-34.1%). The "losers" of the January- March period also included Corfu (-7.3%), Kavala (-4.5%), Kefalonia (-3.7%), Zakynthos (-16.7%), Rhodes (-2.1%), and Skiathos (-9.2%). On the other hand, Chania (+0.6%), Thessaloniki (+8.4%), Kos (+2.9%), Mytilene (+0.1%), and Samos (+2.5%) moved up.

As for the countries that constituted the main tourist reservoirs for Greece in March, Germany occupied the first place (almost 62,000 arrivals), followed by Cyprus (19,000) and Italy (13,800). They were followed by the United Kingdom, Poland, the Netherlands, Turkey, Austria, Switzerland and Belgium.

The rise of urban destinations

The data for Athens International Airport is interesting as it moved into positive territory. Specifically, in March 2025, domestic traffic reached 606,151 passengers, recording an increase of 2.1% compared to the 593,749 passengers in March 2024. International traffic reached 1,616,830 passengers, recording a significant increase of 14.4% compared to the 1,413,072 passengers of the previous year. Overall, traffic at Athens International Airport in March 2025 amounted to 2,222,981 passengers, recording a 10.8% increase compared to the 2,006,821 passengers in March 2024.

Thessaloniki Airport also recorded a steady increase, with 511,775 passengers passing through in March, compared to 474,906 passengers in the corresponding month of 2024 (+7.8%). In the quarter, the airport handled 1,375,782 passengers, compared to 1,268,681 in the previous quarter (+8.4%).

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