Greek Airports Set Passenger Traffic Record in First Eight Months

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Passenger traffic at Greece’s 24 airports managed by the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (HCAA) reached an all-time record in the first eight months of 2026, rising 5.3% compared with the same period last year.

According to HCAA statistics, the 24 airports handled a total of 9,397,348 passengers between January and August 2026, including domestic and international arrivals and departures, compared with 8,924,619 passengers during the same period in 2025.

The 24 HCAA-managed airports include Heraklion, Kalamata, Alexandroupoli, Lemnos, Astypalaia, Ioannina, Chios, Kozani, Kastoria, Karpathos, Kythira, Milos, Skyros, Nea Anchialos, Paros, Syros, Araxos, Naxos, Kalymnos, Ikaria, Kastellorizo, Kasos, Leros and Sitia.

All 24 HCAA airports record positive growth

Passenger traffic across all 24 HCAA airports also increased in August, rising 3.6% compared with August 2025.

Heraklion Airport, which handled the highest number of travellers among the HCAA-managed airports during the month, recorded a 3.4% increase. The airport handled 1,850,790 passengers in August, compared with 1,789,861 a year earlier.

Air traffic across Greek airspace also reached an unprecedented milestone this year.

For the first time in Greece’s history, daily aircraft movements within the Athens Flight Information Region (FIR) exceeded 5,000.

The record was first set on July 18 and was reached 14 times in total — four times in July and 10 times in August. Traffic peaked at 5,183 movements in a single day.

Passenger traffic rises across all 39 commercial airports

Passenger traffic also increased across all 39 Greek airports that handle commercial flights.

The 39 airports — comprising the 24 HCAA airports, 14 operated by Fraport Greece and Athens International Airport — handled 60,451,201 passengers during the first eight months of 2026.

That represented a 4.9% increase from the 57,616,881 passengers recorded during the corresponding period of 2025.

Aircraft movements also increased across the 39 airports during the January-August period.

The number of domestic and international aircraft arrivals and departures rose 4.6% year on year, reaching 452,983 movements compared with 433,013 in the first eight months of 2025.

The figures point to continued growth in passenger and air traffic across Greece during the 2026 travel season.

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