Athens International Airport

International arrivals at the country's main airports increased 10.5 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2017, exceeding 6.5 million according to figures processed by the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE).

The Athens airport had 1.94 million arrivals from abroad, followed by Iraklio (pictured) with 1.05 million and Thessaloniki with 840,000.

Athens International Airport (AIA) intends to tackle a spike in incoming traffic with the operation of a third terminal station by the end of this year. This is the terminal that until now operated only to cover the peak days of the summer season.

Greek airports are enjoying another year of growth in passenger traffic, which came to an impressive 10.3 percent in the first six months of 2017, according to official data. Athens airport has also recorded a notable rise, helped by the increase in flights.

The image of Athens International Airport has improved considerably following recent infrastructure upgrades. The country's main airport can now use its fully automatic systems to serve up to 26 million passengers per annum, up from 20 million last year.

All the signs indicate that Greek tourism is expecting a very successful summer season. Greek hotel owners and industry professionals are confident the current season will be extended based on messages by foreign tour operators and are already setting their eyes on the next season.

The passenger traffic of Greek airports in the first quarter of 2017 increased by 6,6% compared to the corresponding period of 2016, reaching a total of 6 million passengers.

The Greek capital will see a fresh rise in tourism this season, according to data presented to the media on Thursday by Athens Mayor Giorgos Kaminis and Aegean Airlines Vice President Eftychis Vassilakis.

Canada-based PSP International is asking, in a quite discreet fashion, for the process to extend the agreement for the operation of the Athens International Airport to continue, after having stalled for a lengthy period.

Greek prefer domestic destinations for their Easter holiday breaks, according to travel search engine “Trivago.gr”. Corfu, Rome and Monemvsasia are their top 3 picks for this year’s Easter holidays, with Rome falling from top spot after three years in a row.

Security at the “Eleftherios Venizelos” Athens International Airport detected a suspicious package at the airport’s postal centre. Security at airports and all entry points across Greece has been beefed up following the detection of a number of explosive packages recently, two of which were sent to German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble and the IMF offices in Paris.