Photo: Athens International Airport One of Europe's indisputable summer vacation destinations, Greece, keeps breaking one record after another as it heads into another successful year in tourism.
According to official data published this week, last August, an impressive total of 4,028,083 passengers passed through Athens International Airport. This marks the first time in the airport's history that the airport crossed the 4 million passenger mark in one month.
The number also marks a 3.7% rise compared to August 2025, when 3.88 million passengers passed through the same airport. The new record comes just a month after another monthly record was recorded in July , with 3.93 million passengers.
The bulk of the growth in August came from international traffic. 2.88 million international passengers passed through the airport during the month, singnalling an increase of 4.3% compared to August last year.
Passenger traffic on domestic flights also increased, although at a more moderate pace: 1.15 million passengers flew on domestic routes, an increase of 2.4%.
Athens Airport. Photo: ShutterstockThe data highlights the continued momentum of tourism to Greece and Athens in particular, with demand for international flights continuing to grow even during the busy summer season.
Looking at the first eight months of 2026, we see a similar picture. Between January and August, 23.71 million passengers passed through Athens Airport, compared to 22.71 million in the same period in 2025, an increase of 4.4%, which is almost a million additional passengers in a year.
Of the total, 16.97 million were international passengers, up 4.4%. Domestic passenger traffic totaled 6.74 million, an increase of 4.3%.