Athens International Airport SA passenger traffic fell 5.3 percent in the first 10 months of the year as the economic crisis curtailed Greek travel.
The number of people passing through the country’s biggest airport dropped to 12.7 million from 13.4 million a year earlier, according to a statement on the company’s website today.
Tourism, Greece’s biggest industry, will account for almost 16 percent of gross domestic product and almost one in five jobs in 2011, according to London-based World Travel and Tourism Council.
Domestic passenger traffic declined 11 percent to 4.3 million and international traffic dropped 2 percent to 8.4 million in the first 10 months, the company said. The number of domestic passengers fell 9.2 percent to 398,792 in October and international traffic dropped 8 percent to 804,642.
Air traffic controllers and employees at the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority held their first 24-hour strike of the year on Oct. 5 and a 12-hour work stop on Oct. 19, causing hundreds of flights to be canceled. The strikes had a “serious impact” on traffic levels in the month, the company said.
(source: Bloomberg)
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