The tourist season is winding down at different speeds across Greek destinations, with some islands showing signs of a sharper slowdown in travel towards the end of the season, while others are maintaining their momentum even in October.
The latest figures from Fraport Greece for the 14 regional airports (Aktion, Chania, Kavala, Kefalonia, Thessaloniki, Corfu, Zakynthos, Kos, Mytilene, Mykonos, Rhodes, Samos, Santorini and Skiathos) reveal significant differences between destinations. Despite an overall increase in passenger traffic, six airports recorded declines compared with the same month in 2025.
In Skiathos and Mykonos, passenger traffic fell by nearly 10%, while Santorini also recorded a decline. By contrast, destinations such as Rhodes, Corfu and Chania continued to see passenger numbers rise, maintaining positive growth as the summer season drew to a close.
October declines
According to Fraport Greece’s data, 3.56 million passengers travelled through the 14 regional airports in October, up 1.9% from the same month in 2025. In absolute terms, the increase amounted to about 65,000 passengers.
However, the positive overall result masks significant differences. Skiathos recorded the steepest percentage decline, with passenger traffic down 10.2%. International traffic fell by 13.1%, while domestic traffic slipped by 0.2%.
Mykonos followed, with a 9.8% decline to 77,647 passengers. International traffic fell by 9.9%, while domestic traffic was down 9.7%.
Santorini also recorded a decline, with total passenger traffic down 1.9% to 232,370. International traffic fell by 2.7% and domestic traffic by 1.2%.
Declines were also recorded in Mytilene (-3.7%), Kavala (-3.1%) and Thessaloniki (-2.4%). In Thessaloniki, the fall was driven by international traffic, which declined by 5.7%, while domestic passengers increased by 5.5%.
Destinations that maintained their momentum
By contrast, several island destinations continued to see… summer-like levels of activity, even in the final month of the summer season.
Rhodes recorded a 3.1% increase, handling 828,076 passengers, while international traffic rose by 3.2%. Total traffic in Corfu increased by 4.1%.
The increase was even higher in Chania, where passenger traffic rose by 6.9% to 474,095. Zakynthos also recorded growth of 6.3%, Kefalonia 5.6% and Aktion 13.6%.
Samos recorded the biggest percentage increase among the 14 airports, with total passenger traffic up 17.6% and international traffic up 35.2%.
Overall, international passenger traffic reached 2.83 million, up 1.7% from October 2025, while domestic traffic totalled 733,100 passengers, an increase of 2.6%.
At the same time, the average flight load factor fell to 80.6%, from 82.1% in the same month a year earlier.
Fraport Greece notes that the summer season, according to the slot schedule of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), ended on 24 October, generally marking the end of international air traffic for the summer season.
The picture over the first 10 months
Despite the declines recorded at some destinations in October, the overall picture for the January-October period remains positive.
The 14 regional airports handled a total of 36.98 million passengers, compared with 35.28 million in the same period in 2025, an increase of 4.8%.
International passenger traffic rose by 4.7% to 29.82 million, while domestic traffic increased by 5.4% to 7.16 million passengers. All the airports recorded growth over the 10-month period, except Kos, where traffic edged down by 0.1%.
Looking at individual airports, Samos recorded the biggest percentage increase over the 10-month period (+12.6%), followed by Skiathos (+11.7%), Kefalonia (+8.8%) and Chania (+8.4%).
Rhodes, with 7.15 million passengers and growth of 3.6%, and Thessaloniki, with 7.19 million passengers and an increase of 4.6%, remained the leaders in absolute terms.
Notably, despite its sharp decline in October, Mykonos recorded growth of 4.8% over the 10-month period, while Santorini was up 3.2%. On the volcanic island, however, international passenger traffic was down a marginal 0.4% compared with the same period last year.
Fraport Greece notes that 9 of the 14 airports it manages had exceeded their full-year 2025 passenger traffic levels before the end of October. The airports of Chania, Kefalonia, Skiathos and Zakynthos surpassed their 2025 levels in less than nine months, while Rhodes, Corfu, Aktion, Mykonos and Samos did so in less than 10 months.