Athens Airport in Spata handled 27,310,164 passengers from the start of 2026 until the end of September, 4.3 per cent more than in the same period of 2025. These figures are preliminary data published by Athens International Airport (AIA). Over 273 days, this equates to an average of 100,037 passengers per day. Last year’s nine-month period, which was the best on record until now, saw 26.19 million passengers, or approximately 95,900 per day. This year, around 4,100 more passengers are passing through Spata every day.
September
In September, 3,599,875 passengers travelled through the airport, 3.5 per cent more than in September 2025. Domestic traffic rose by 3.1 per cent to 1,037,506 passengers, whilst international traffic rose by 3.6 per cent to 2,562,369. AIA notes that this increase came despite geopolitical instability and despite the fact that one of the two runways was out of operation for two days during the month, due to scheduled upgrade and maintenance work.
Month by month
Every month of 2026 saw higher passenger numbers than the corresponding month in 2025. February saw the biggest increase, at 13.2 per cent (1.98 million passengers), followed by January with 8.6 per cent. April saw the smallest increase, at just 1.0 per cent. The busiest month was August, with 4,027,701 passengers, the only month in the last two years to exceed 4 million. This was followed by July with 3.93 million and September.
Around seven in ten passengers over the nine-month period travelled to or from abroad: 19.53 million (+4.3 per cent), compared with 7.78 million on domestic flights (+4.2 per cent).
What this means for us
For Spata and Artemida, more passengers mean more flights, more traffic on the roads leading to the airport, and more work for those employed there and in the surrounding area. But it also means more aeroplanes flying over people’s homes. In August, a record-breaking month, the airport’s monitoring stations recorded 1,495 noise incidents. The noise report for September is expected at the end of October and we will publish it as soon as it is released.
The figures for September are provisional. AIA finalises the figures each month after the 20th of the following month, so the figures may change slightly.
Source: Athens International Airport, ‘Passenger Traffic 2026’, figures for September 2026 (provisional).
