In May 2026, the 14 regional airports managed by Fraport Greece handled 3.9 million passengers, marking a 6.0% increase (+223,000 passengers) compared to May 2025.
According to the airport operator, the main factors influencing the results are as follows:
Calendar Effects: May 2026 included five full weekends and ended with the three-day Holy Spirit holiday, while May 2025 had only four and a half weekends and a holiday that fell later in the month. These calendar variations likely contributed positively to passenger traffic performance.
Imbalance between arrivals and departures: The first weeks of May 2026 were characterized by reduced departures and increased arrivals compared to the same period in 2025. This pattern may indicate a delayed start to the summer season (combined with the normalization of traffic following the Easter peak the previous month). By mid-May, both the volume of arrivals and departures had returned to levels comparable to those recorded in 2025.
War in the Middle East: The conflict continues to negatively impact traffic due to flight cancellations and lower load factors (Middle East load factor for May 2026: 63.7% vs. May 2025: 73.2%)
While passenger traffic remained below last year’s levels, traffic to Israel expanded to 8 airports in the network during May (mainly thanks to Israeli airlines), but also with the addition of more airlines such as Aegean toward the end of the month. However, compared to last year, traffic to Israel decreased significantly by 20.5%, corresponding to a drop of 13,000 passengers. The airports most affected were Rhodes (-2,500 / -9.1%), Thessaloniki (-4,700 / -24.6%), Kefalonia (-3,300 / -99.8%), and Santorini (-2,800 / -66.9%), mainly due to the reduction in flights by Israeli airlines. In contrast, Corfu Airport recorded a significant increase compared to last year.
In addition, limited flights to Qatar began at Mykonos Airport (JMK), while toward the end of the month, routes to the United Arab Emirates were introduced at Mykonos (JMK), Santorini (JTR), and Corfu (CFU).
International traffic: The overall increase in May 2026 compared to May 2025 is driven by the remarkable performance of international traffic (+167,000 passengers / +5.5%).
The increase is mainly attributable to the airports of Chania (+63,000/17.7%), Corfu (+46,000/11.3%), Zakynthos (+25,000/11.6%), Rhodes (+21,000/2.9%), Mykonos (+20,000/29.3%), and Thessaloniki (+18,000/3.6%).
Occupancy rate:
In May 2026, the average load factor showed a slight decrease compared to May 2025 (82.1% vs. 82.4%) at most airports, although the variation was minimal.
Key figures:
Domestic passenger traffic: 718,000 passengers (MoM: +21,000 / MoM%: +3.1% compared to May 2025 – Market share: 18%)
International passenger traffic: 3.2 million passengers (Y/Y: +202,000 / Y/Y%: +6.7% compared to May 2025 – Market share: 82%)
Since the start of the concession, Fraport Greece airports have already welcomed approximately 260 million passengers.