(Planes keep landing. Everyone looks surprised.)
- Passenger traffic is up again, because Greece apparently did not “peak” last year.
- Planes are landing more often, despite infrastructure that insists it cannot possibly cope.
- State-run airports perform solidly, even when nobody expects them to.
- Heraklion keeps doing what Heraklion does: carrying the weight of Crete on its back.
Greek airports have once again discovered growth. Not theoretical growth. Actual, measurable, uncomfortable growth.
According to official statistics covering January to November 2025, passenger traffic across the country’s 39 airports rose by 9.5%, while aircraft movements increased by 9.3% compared to the same period in 2024. This includes all airports handling commercial flights: 24 managed by the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (ΥΠΑ), 14 by Fraport Greece, and Athens International Airport.
The surprise, if there is one, lies not in the increase itself but in how routinely it now happens. Every year, another record. Every year, the same raised eyebrows.
The Big Picture, in Numbers
Between January and November 2025, Greek airports handled:
- 79,881,208 passengers
- Compared to 72,932,962 passengers in the same period of 2024
That is not a marginal increase. That is millions of additional people, bags, delays, boarding calls, and coffee queues.
Aircraft movements followed suit. Across the same eleven-month period:
- 600,625 flights were recorded in 2025
- Compared to 549,439 flights in 2024
Arrivals and departures, domestic and international, all up. The sky stayed busy.
State Airports Doing the Heavy Lifting
The 24 state-run airports managed by ΥΠΑ posted their own respectable rise, with passenger traffic up 6.8% for the same January–November period.
In raw numbers:
- 12,540,242 passengers in 2025
- 11,744,159 passengers in 2024
Not explosive growth. Just steady, persistent pressure on facilities that were never designed for this volume—and yet keep absorbing it.
These airports include, among others: Heraklion, Kalamata, Alexandroupoli, Limnos, Astypalaia, Ioannina, Chios, Kozani, Kastoria, Karpathos, Kythera, Milos, Skyros, Nea Anchialos, Paros, Syros, Araxos, Naxos, Kalymnos, Ikaria, Kastellorizo, Kasos, Leros, and Sitia.
No glamour. Just throughput.
Heraklion Does What it Always Does
Heraklion’s “Nikos Kazantzakis” Airport once again proves that it operates permanently above its emotional capacity.
In November 2025 alone, the airport served:
- 245,969 passengers
- A 9.2% increase compared to November 2024
This is not peak season. This is November. And still the numbers climb.
For an airport that has been “about to be replaced” for years, Heraklion remains stubbornly indispensable.
The Usual Suspects Break Their Own Ceilings
Several other state airports posted striking increases over eleven months:
- Nea Anchialos: +46.3%
- Syros: +39.6%
- Naxos: +17.8%
These are not statistical accidents. They reflect sustained demand, changing travel patterns, and a tourism model that increasingly refuses to stay within summer boundaries.
And This Means…
…more passengers, more flights, and more pressure.
Growth is celebrated, naturally. But it also comes with predictable side effects: strained infrastructure, staffing gaps, delayed upgrades, and airports operating at limits once considered exceptional and now routine.
The numbers confirm what travelers already know: Greece is not slowing down. Not in July. Not in November. Not quietly.
Planes keep landing. The charts go up. And everyone nods, surprised once again.