Fraport Greece expects a further increase in passenger traffic this year at the 14 airports it manages in Greece, at the level of 36 million passengers compared to 33.9 million in 2023, continuing the upward trend of 2023.
At the same time, it is launching the integration of new technologies, robotic systems and drones by the end of 2024.
As announced in a press conference at the Germany Pavilion at the 88th TIF, the company’s General Development Manager, George Vilos, revealed that passenger traffic at all 14 airports has increased by 6%-6.5%, with already recorded an additional 1.5 million passengers compared to the corresponding period last year. In particular, Thessaloniki’s “Macedonia” airport expects an increase in the number of passengers it handles to 7.3 million compared to 7 million in 2023, with 68% of last year’s passenger traffic being foreign passengers. It should be noted that approximately 1 million passengers from Russia, Ukraine and Israel have been “lost” due to the war crises.
Vilos pointed out that Thessaloniki is and will be the largest airport for Fraport Greece not only because of its traffic but also because of the very strong, as he noted, prospects for the development of the city as a tourist destination.
Asked by “N”, Vilos said that if the company is interested in the rest of the country’s airports that are headed for privatization, he clarified that as a special purpose company Fraport Greece cannot participate in such procedures, but the parent company Fraport in cooperation with the Copelouzos and Konstantakopoulos Groups have expressed interest in the Kalamata airport.
Regarding, however, the possibility of a direct connection between Thessaloniki and the USA, Vilos explained that targeted efforts to promote the city in the US must be preceded, since a plane must not only land full of passengers in Thessaloniki but it must also leave with people. Based on a study by Fraport on the 14 airports it manages, passengers staying in Thessaloniki and departing from “Macedonia” come from Greece, Germany, England, Cyprus, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, Israel, Switzerland, Austria while the US ranks 11th.
Continuous investments – New technologies
In total from 2017 to date, 500 million euros have been invested by Fraport and 205 million passengers have been handled and the 14 airports managed by the company are connected to 42 countries and 900 cities.
Currently, a program is “running” for the certification of the 13 airports (“Macedonia” is already certified) in terms of the safety requirements of the European Airport Safety Agency (EASA), amounting to 30 million euros, while on an annual basis Fraport Greece invests around 50 million euros for infrastructure maintenance and new technologies.
Vilos together with the Head of the company’s IT & Telecommunications department, Giannis Theofilos, presented the innovative technological solutions that will be installed at Fraport’s 14 airports, improving passenger service using robotics, drones, Artificial Intelligence, etc. The installation of these technologies will start from the airport “Macedonia” in 2025, complementary to the existing services by the staff.
This is the “Ozzie Generation 1” robot by Ozzie Robotics (a spin-off company of EKETA), for ticket scanning and information on check-in, arrivals and departures, which will be located at the entrance of the airport as of October, while the Self Service Bag Drop will reduce queues at the airport check-in counter for passengers’ bags. The first tests in “Macedonia” will begin by the end of 2024 by the Aegean company and will later be installed at the airports of Rhodes, Corfu, Kos and Chania, while with SITA’s Smart Path system, passengers will declare their biometric data in order to avoid continuous checks of their ticket, ID and passport from arrival at the airport until their departure and will be put into operation on a trial basis until the beginning of 2025. At the same time, the MANiBOT robotic system includes moving robots with the ability to perform a wide variety of operations such as transporting overweight suitcases at the airport, while also Fraport Greece will use drones that will perform perimeter inspections of airports (runways, fences, etc.) identifying potential problems.
