Athens Airport set for expansion as demand for more space grows
Terminals to grow in order to cater for traffic of up to 50 million passengers per year by 2046
Athens International Airport (AIA) will implement a three-phase investment plan to increase passenger service capacity in the coming years.
The company that has the airport concession contract until 2046 will proceed in February with the public registration of its share capital through the sale of the 30% stake currently held by TAIPED.
As the prospects for Greek tourism are characterized internationally as very positive and passenger traffic at Greece’s largest airport keeps setting new records, AIA is attempting on the one hand to continue to provide optimal international services to airlines and passengers and on the other hand to ensure its development.
In this context the company “intends to implement the expansion of its facilities in three phases, based on a pre-agreed spatial plan, which aims to increase the capacity of the terminals to 50 million passengers per year by 2046.” According to what AIA announced, the spatial plan does not require new land or new runways, as the two independent runways of the airport that are already in operation can serve traffic of 50 million passengers.
However, it is expected to expand its terminals and further optimize their use as the nominal capacity of the airport was until a few years ago at 26 million passengers and has increased in recent years with targeted interventions in its layout. Therefore, passenger traffic at AIA during 2023 amounted to 28.17 million, increased by 24% compared to 2022, but also by 10.2% compared to 2019.
Based on the data available so far from seat planning by airlines for this year and active passenger seat reservations for trips to Greece, international arrivals to the country in 2024 may increase by up to 10%.
In the coming years, it is expected that there will be a significant further increase, as is also foreseen in the plan of the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE), which speaks of 50 million visits to the country by 2030.
