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thens International (ATH) has managed to attract 11 new airlines this year and is “coping rather well” with the adverse economic environment in Greece, ATH director-communications and marketing Lonna Papadopoulou told ATW at the recent World Route Development Forum in Berlin.
However, passenger traffic in the first nine months of 2011 did fall 5% compared to a year ago. “Domestic traffic was the most severely hit, and decreased year-on-year by 11.8%. Greek people are travelling less owing to the austerity measures imposed by the government,” she said.
But the international segment was more resilient, inching down just 1.3% year-over-year in passenger numbers. In the three summer months, June through August, non-Greek carriers increased throughput at ATH 6.5% over the year-ago period. “All things considered, this is not too bad. We’re coping rather well with the adverse economic environment, due to international traffic,” Papadopoulou asserted.
Moreover, the airport managed to attract 11 new airlines, she said. Air China, TAP Portugal, Transavia Netherlands, Air One, Belle Air, Czech Connect, Darwin, Hellenic Imperial, Jetairfly, Rossiya Airlines, and Sky Wings launched services to/from ATH in the past IATA summer schedule, extending the airport’s portfolio to 65 airlines. ATH was in particular thrilled with the arrival of Air China and TAP. “We have wanted TAP for a long time … It provides us with connectivity to South America,” Papadopoulou said.
The airport offers a wide range of incentives to new carriers, but most of these existed prior to the Greek sovereign debt crisis. But ATH did launch a new initiative called “Athens Spotlighted” Oct. 30 to counter negative perceptions of Athens. “The image of our capital was damaged as a result of the protest and unrest, so we decided we had to act to preserve international traffic,” Papadopoulou said. Athens Spotlighted is a booklet with ideas and discount vouchers for cultural sites, entertainment and restaurants. It is handed to international passengers and is free of charge. “We’ll do a six-month trial and then we will re-asses it,” she said.
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