Athens International Airport “Eleftherios Venizelos” (AIA) was established in 1996, under the form of a société anonyme operating according to the rules of the private economy, as a public-private partnership with a concession agreement – a pioneer step for Greece.
It is the largest airport in Greece and one of the largest and most state-of-the-art airports in Europe. It is one of the most important transport hubs in Southeast Europe and the main gateway to Greece.
In 2024, passenger traffic reached 29,725,613 people, while in the first 11 months of 2025 it reached 31,000,068 million passengers, an increase of 6.6% compared to 2024. Also, there were 250,006 flights in 2024, while in the first 11 months of 2025, there were 264,113, which is a 5.6% increase.
In 2016, AIA became the first airport in Greece to achieve carbon neutrality, while in December 2019, it announced through its initiative “ROUTE 2025” its official commitment to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2025.
During his visit to the airport on December 12, on the occasion of the AIA event for “ROUTE 2025,” EU Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, stated that AIA is the first airport in Greece with a zero carbon footprint and -thanks to the installation of one of the largest photovoltaic power stations in Europe- it now produces on its own all of the energy that it uses – something that seemed impossible just a few years back.
It should be pointed out that the Athens Airport’s achievement of a net zero footprint comes 25 years before the deadline set under the European Green Deal, for EU to become the first climate-neutral continent, meaning net zero greenhouse gas emissions.
According to data presented at the event for “ROUTE 2025” by AIA CEO Yannis Paraschis, CO₂ emissions have been reduced from 65,000 tons in 2005 to 29,000 tons today, while passenger traffic has more than doubled, and this was achieved without carbon offsets.
AIA’s strategy was based on three key pillars: Full electrification (with the creation of a new high-power charger network, replacing existent vehicles with electric ones, and phasing out conventional fuels in the airport’s daily operations), energy self-sufficiency thanks to photovoltaics, and the energy upgrade of buildings with the goal of completely eliminating natural gas.
The member states that invest in decarbonization now will be the ones that produce the technology of the future. Today, Athens Airport is showing us the way.
Sources: Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund, AMNA, AIA official website
TAGS: ENERGY
