Meet The Winners: Athens International Airport

Athens International Airport (ATH) continues to strengthen its position as one of Europe’s fastest-growing aviation hubs, adding nine new airline partners and launching 29 new destinations over the past 18 months. A further 20 services on existing routes have also been introduced, reinforcing the airport’s expanding network and supporting sustained passenger growth.

The airport recorded a 6.7% increase in passenger traffic during 2025, reaching more than 33.9 million passengers. International demand remained the primary growth engine, rising 8.6% year-on-year to 24.4 million passengers.

North America remains a key strategic market for ATH. Transatlantic connectivity has more than doubled compared with pre-pandemic levels, with weekly frequencies now exceeding 100 flights versus 46 before COVID-19. A major development came in May when American Airlines launched direct services between Athens and Dallas-Fort Worth, further strengthening links between Greece and the U.S.

“Enhancing connectivity across North America is our short-term goal while Latin American growth is something we’d like to achieve in the medium term,” said Ioanna Papadopoulou, Director Communications and Marketing at ATH.

The Asian market has also accelerated with Korean Air launching Seoul operations and Sichuan Airlines introducing Chengdu. Perhaps most notably, IndiGo established the first-ever direct air links between India and Greece with new routes to Delhi and Mumbai.

Looking ahead, ATH is placing increased emphasis on attracting additional long-haul services across the Asia-Pacific region. “We are reorienting our route development strategy to secure more direct long-haul routes across Far East Asia, including China, Japan, and Australia, where almost half a million passengers currently travel indirectly,” Papadopoulou explained.

Alongside direct services, the airport views the Middle East as a strategically important gateway connecting Athens to Asia and Australia. “The Middle East market is an important to us. It’s a very challenging time but we are standing by our airline partners who have reinstated most of their schedules,” said Papadopoulou. “We hope and wish that soon there will be 100% return. The Middle East is a corridor to far east Asia and Australia, which accounts for 10% of our international market and 7% of our total market.”

Closer to home, ATH’s European network continues to expand. TAP Air Portugal launched a 5X-weekly service to Lisbon in July while airBaltic introduced a 2X-weekly route to Tallinn in April. Further growth is planned from September, with Aegean Airlines launching seasonal flights to Rotterdam and Wizz Air expanding operations to Larnaca.

Europe remains the airport’s largest market, and ATH continues to target new opportunities across the continent. “European traffic is always on our radar,” Papadopoulou said. “We want to find new, niche opportunities.” Key targets include recovering pre-pandemic connectivity to Poland and developing additional links across Italy.

Beyond route growth, 2026 has been a milestone year for ATH. In addition to celebrating its 25th anniversary, the airport was named the winner of the Over 20 Million Passengers category at the Routes Europe Awards.

Recognized for exemplary marketing support, valuable data, and strong incentive programs, Papadopoulou said: “I would like to sincerely thank the judging committee as well as all the airlines that voted for us. It means a lot as we are working very closely with them in order to elevate Athens as a tourism destination on a year-round basis, but also to enhance connectivity. Their support gave us this award, and it was a wonderful event.”

ATH also maintained a prominent presence throughout Routes Europe 2026, using the event to showcase its 25th anniversary campaign and engage with airline partners through a range of promotional activities, including a bespoke beach bag sponsorship.

Reflecting on the value of the event, Papadopoulou added: “The meetings are very important to us. They give us the opportunity to discuss with our airlines for route development, challenges they face and how we can support each other. Our marketing activities have been very successful.”

As a member of Routes 360, ATH continues to engage with route development community, sharing updates on network growth while promoting new unserved and underserved opportunities for airlines to capitalize on.