According to the figures that were released by Athens International Airport (AIA) on Friday, passenger traffic reached 1.62 million in the course of September and continued to enjoy robust traffic growth, at the level of 23%, with both domestic and international travelers presenting high levels of increase (25.8% and 21.5% respectively).

During September, Greek travelers continued to show an impressive growth of 26%, while foreign visitors travelling to Athens only increased by 24% compared to prior-year levels.

Overall, during the first nine months of the year, the airport’s passenger traffic reached 11.67 million, exceeding prior-year levels by 1.9 million passengers, corresponding to a significant increase of 19.4%, with both domestic and international traffic achieving double–digit growth at the level of 18.3% and 20.0% respectively.

According to AIA, this successful outcome is attributed to a series of key factors:

a. the stabilization of the economy, reflected in the increased air travelling of Greek residents, demonstrating an overall 11% rise – which was largely driven by the strong 23% growth observed between June and September,

b. the strengthening of the city attractiveness, clearly shown in the foreign Athens visitors strong upward trend, with a remarkable growth of 30% and

c. the significant increase in the capacity offered by the airlines, since the beginning of their summer flight schedule