In the period from January to May 2023, AEGEAN transported over 5 million passengers in total, marking a 50% growth in passenger traffic compared to the same period in 2022. This surpassed the pre-pandemic passenger traffic levels and reaffirmed the strong demand for travel to the country, which had already shown promising signs in the first quarter of the year.
In particular, AEGEAN has witnessed a significant surge in international passenger traffic to and from Athens International Airport “Eleftherios Venizelos.” The traffic has increased by 65% compared to 2022 and by 12% compared to 2019. Similarly, at Thessaloniki Airport “Makedonia,” international passenger traffic has experienced substantial growth, reaching 72% compared to the previous year and 30% compared to 2019.
The rise in passenger traffic can be attributed to two main factors. Firstly, AEGEAN’s overall expansion in activity played a significant role, with the introduction of new routes abroad. This year, AEGEAN boasts its largest international network of destinations to date. Secondly, the timely increase in flight frequency on existing routes, including Italy, Spain, Germany, Scandinavia, Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, further contributed to the passenger traffic growth.
It is worth mentioning that with the early onset of the summer season, several new direct flight routes have been introduced. From Athens, direct flights are now available to Bristol, Birmingham, Riga, and Lille.
Thessaloniki now offers direct flights to Barcelona and Cologne, while Chania, Ioannina, Mykonos, Rhodes, and Kalamata have direct flights to Tel Aviv. Furthermore, in the coming days, Athens will see the launch of nine new routes to Ljubljana, Dammam, Newcastle, Seville, Olbia, Kuwait, Pisa, Palma de Mallorca, and Split.
Thessaloniki will introduce three new routes to Venice, Yerevan, and Tbilisi. Additionally, Heraklion will offer flights to Vienna, Marseille, Larnaca, Tirana, and Belgrade, while the route connecting Rhodes and Belgrade will resume after the winter hiatus.
It is worth noting that AEGEAN has planned to provide a total of 18 million seats for the year 2023. Out of these, 11 million seats will be allocated for international flights, which is an increase of 2 million compared to 2022 and 800,000 more than in 2019. The airline will operate to 165 destinations across 46 countries, offering 272 direct routes from its 10 bases in Greece and abroad. AEGEAN will utilize a fleet of 76 aircraft, including the state-of-the-art Airbus A320 and A321 neo models.
