Greek tourism | Is the season finally expanding? What does the evolution of charter flights in Greece show
The photo – painting is from the magical Symi
The picture of organized travel during the post-pandemic period shows a trend of expansion of the Greek tourism season, with Eurostat data outlining a broader temporal distribution of commercial flights (unscheduled, mainly charter) in months and outside the high season.
The data from the European statistical authority show a higher concentration of charter flights in the high season of 2019 compared to the corresponding period of 2024, although their total annual number last year was increased by 1,580 flights compared to pre-pandemic levels. In other words, while the total number of annual charter flights increased, a smaller part of them was “squeezed” into the peak months.
In particular, approximately 70% of charters in Greece in 2024 were concentrated in the high season (June, July, August and September), i.e. 46,161 flights compared to 66,338 commercial flights carried out throughout the year.
Correspondingly, the share of these flights in 2019 amounted to 73.4% of all charters of the year, i.e. 47,573 charters during the high season, out of a total of 64,758 for the year.
In practice, in 2024, 1,412 fewer charter flights were carried out in absolute numbers during the peak summer months.
From the above, it follows that in 2024 there is a 2.44% increase in charter flights in Greece compared to 2019, while in 2023 they fluctuated around 2019 levels, reaching 64,596, of which 45,985 concerned the high summer season.
Indicatively for October, which is one of the target months for extending the season, the charter trend has been increasing over the last two years, although a slight decrease was noted in 2024. In particular, in October 2019, 5,064 charter flights were recorded, compared to 5,496 in 2023 and 5,369 in 2024.
In parallel, Athens, which was ranked 8th among the 10 airports in the EU with the highest number of flights in 2024 (over 250,000 in total), has the highest share of unscheduled flights among these 10 airports, which amounted to 5.5%. It was followed by Vienna (4.6%) and Madrid (4.5%).
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