Starting this week and up to October 16, the number of flights in Greece is estimated to exceed the levels of record year 2019, which makes it likely that the goal of extending the tourism season well into this fall will be achieved, not to mention registering a new record in tourism.

For the week from October 3 to 9, a total of approximately 4,940 flights are expected, with Athens airport seeing the lion’s share. On a pan-European level, flying activity is recording a strong recovery, while in September the number of flights on Fridays is expected to correspond to 88% of 2019 levels. According to Eurocontrol, the recovery trend is expected to be slightly higher in October, so across Europe the number of of flights will be 31,000 on peak days (mainly Fridays and Saturdays).

Flight figures are among the statistics that demonstrate how well tourism is performing. Passenger traffic at Athens International Airport (AIA) and the 14 regional airports that Fraport operates looks set to match the figures of 2019. At AIA, passenger traffic amounted to 2.83 million people in July, lagging figure for the same month in 2019 by just 5.1%. Domestic passenger traffic showed a drop of only 0.3%, while international passenger traffic was 7.2% lower than three years earlier.

Overall, during the first seven months of the year, the airport’s passenger traffic reached 11.8 million, down 17.1% compared to 2019.

At the 14 regional airports, passenger traffic was 11% higher in July this year, compared to the corresponding month of 2019.

According to aviation experts, inflationary pressures that directly affect the purchasing power of consumers will play a crucial role in the coming months, and oil prices will affect the prices of tickets. On a year-over-year basis through the end of August, the price of jet fuel more than tripled – to $379 a gallon from $103 – according to Eurocontrol data.

This article was previously published at ekathimerini.com.