Passenger traffic down 4.3 percent
Athens International Airport (AIA) said yesterday that 4.3 percent fewer passengers passed through the facility in the first 11 months of the year. The number of people passing through Greece’s biggest airport declined to 14.4 million, from 15.1 million in the same period a year earlier, AIA said in a statement. International traffic dropped 1.9 percent, while the number of domestic travelers fell 8.2 percent, it added. In November, 9.6 percent fewer passengers passed through the airport compared with the same month in 2009. The number of international travelers fell 2.8 percent to 611,636, while domestic passengers were down for an eighth month to 378,172, a 19 percent drop, the statement said. Athens Airport is majority-owned by the Greek government and managed by German construction company Hochtief. Tourism accounts for about 18 percent of Greece’s gross domestic product and about one in five jobs.