Another record-breaking year in passenger traffic is expected to close this year for Athens International Airport. It is estimated to close 2025 with a significant increase to 34 million passengers from 31.9 million in 2024.

As outgoing airport CEO Yannis Paraschis and his successor George Kallimasias, who takes office on February 1, were jointly told during yesterday’s Christmas event to members of the press, and AIA’s Director of Communications and Marketing, Ioanna Papadopoulou, the airport’s performance reflects the country’s overall recovery after the pandemic and the significant increase in Greek travel.

“2025 was a very good year for Athens International Airport,” Paraschi said, attributing this momentum to both the overall positive trend in Greece after the pandemic and the increased travel mobility of Greeks.” As he noted, the airport is now entering a new day, a major investment programme has been launched “and it is a period that allows us to reflect on what has been done over the last 30 years”, with a new chapter now opening both at an operational and personal level for the management itself. “It is hugely important that the foreign shareholders have chosen the new CEO from within the airport’s leadership team, expressing their confidence in what has been built up over the years through the projects. And George is one of the most important contributors to this whole project… We have been working together on many issues over the years, in relation to strategy, the extension of the concession period, the listing on the Stock Exchange, and the environmental commitment of the airport so that the airport can also play a part in strengthening Athens as a destination,” he said.

He said he is “a man of projects, knowledgeable in the investment community, an element that serves as a guarantee for the next strategic steps. Paraschis himself, he said, will remain at the airport in an advisory role, “passing the baton” to the new management. “We are putting a stone in the country’s effort to distinguish itself as a global tourist destination and to make Athens a pioneering and sustainable destination. We are in the relay, and I have taken the baton, and I am passing it on to George, concluded Paraschis.

For his part, the new CEO, Mr. Kallimasias, who has been with the company since 1999 and has worked closely with Mr. Paraschis since 2005, said he was taking over an organization at a particularly high level of excellence, but at a time of great challenges.

He noted that the most significant challenge relates to planning for the expansion of the airport’s facilities. The new parking area project has already been awarded, and the aim is to follow up with the award of the overall expansion of the new central terminal, a €1 billion project with a completion date of 2032. However, individual facilities will be delivered during construction.

However, he said there will be inconvenience for the travelling public during the works, but the end result will be a new, fully upgraded and operationally sound airport. “And that is perhaps the most important challenge for the years ahead.”