Eleftherios Venizelos International, the main airport serving Athens, has landed a spot among the European Union’s ten busiest airports for commercial flights, according to new figures from Eurostat.
The figures, covering all of 2025, show how far air travel has bounced back since the pandemic. Airports across the bloc handled 6.9 million commercial flights last year, a rise of 3.8 percent from the 6.7 million recorded in 2024.
Passenger traffic has climbed every year since 2021, and the 2025 total now sits close to the 7.0 million flights logged in 2019, the last full year before COVID-19 grounded much of Europe’s air travel.
Three airports still handle far more traffic than any other in the EU. Amsterdam Schiphol led the way with about 488,000 flights, followed by Paris-Charles de Gaulle with roughly 476,000 and Frankfurt with around 457,000.
Athens airport ranks among Europe’s busiest flights
Together, these hubs show how a handful of major western European airports continue to dominate European skies, even as smaller countries such as Greece post strong growth of their own and push their way into the same top tier.
The highest count of commercial flights (scheduled and non-scheduled) in the EU in 2025 was recorded in:
🇳🇱Amsterdam Schiphol airport (488 000 flights)
🇫🇷Paris-Charles de Gaulle (476 000)
🇩🇪Frankfurt/Main (457 000)Read more 👉https://t.co/AMEZQLmWer pic.twitter.com/G9tkeL2MoG
— EU_Eurostat (@EU_Eurostat) August 28, 2026
Not all flights follow a set timetable. Eurostat classified 8.5 percent of flights across the bloc as “non-scheduled,” meaning charters and other special services rather than regular routes.
That share climbed during the summer travel season, peaking at 12.3 percent in July, when airports recorded 690,855 flights in total, and staying above 11 percent in both June and August, months when extra seasonal flights fill schedules across the continent.
Non-scheduled traffic sets Athens apart from its peers
Among the ten busiest airports, Athens airport recorded the highest proportion of non-scheduled flights, at 5.2 percent of its total traffic. Madrid’s Adolfo Suarez Barajas followed at 4.8 percent, and Copenhagen’s Kastrup airport came in at 4.1 percent.
The figures suggest Athens draws a larger mix of charter and seasonal traffic than most of its counterparts in the euro area, even as it holds its place firmly among Europe’s most active airports overall.
That combination, a top-ten ranking paired with the highest non-scheduled share among its peers, sets Athens apart from the other busiest airports in the bloc, where scheduled routes make up a far larger share of yearly traffic.
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