Thessaloniki airport. Photo: Greek Travel Pages (GTP)
Passenger traffic at the 14 Greek regional airports managed by Fraport Greece recorded a modest year-on-year increase of 1.3 percent in March, closing the first quarter up by 2.8 percent. The uptick was primarily driven by Thessaloniki, with additional support from smaller but resilient destinations like Kavala and Mytilini.
According to Fraport’s latest data, domestic passenger traffic rose by 1.3 percent in March, while international traffic increased by 1.4 percent. The traditionally quiet first quarter for tourism was further affected by seismic activity on Santorini, which contributed to uneven performance across airports.
Mixed performance across destinations
Kavala Airport posted the strongest growth in March, with a 17.3 percent rise in overall traffic and a 30.9 percent surge in domestic travelers. Thessaloniki remained the top performer in absolute numbers, handling 511,775 passengers – up 7.8 percent from 474,906 a year earlier.
Other airports recording slight gains included Zakynthos (1.8 percent), Mytilini (1 percent), Kos (0.3 percent), and Kefalonia (0.2 percent).
Conversely, Aktion Airport experienced the sharpest decline, with traffic down 37.4 percent year-on-year. Santorini saw a 28.5 percent drop, while Mykonos registered an 11.6 percent decrease. Additional declines were noted at Corfu (14.3 percent), Skiathos (6.4 percent), and Rhodes (4.6 percent), with marginal drops at Chania (0.2 percent) and Samos (0.6 percent).
Quarterly trends reflect March results
The first-quarter performance mirrored March trends.
Thessaloniki again led with 1,375,782 passengers, up 8.4 percent compared to the same period last year. Chania (0.6 percent), Samos (2.5 percent), Kos (2.9 percent), and Mytilini (0.1 percent) also showed positive movement.
In contrast, Aktion (34.1 percent), Mykonos (24.4 percent), Santorini (27.5 percent), and Zakynthos (16.7 percent) recorded double-digit quarterly declines. Smaller drops were observed in Skiathos (9.2 percent), Corfu (7.3 percent), Kavala (4.5 percent), Kefalonia (3.7 percent), and Rhodes (2.1 percent).
Top source markets
Germany remained the top source of international arrivals in March, followed by Cyprus and Italy. The UK, Poland, the Netherlands, Turkey, Austria, Switzerland, and Belgium rounded out the top ten.
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