Kos beat most Euro airports in Sept 2020 – beKos passenger traffic didn’t worsen

Jet2 from Newcastle was one of several routes that was new for Kos in September 2020.

Almost every European airport – for which data is available – experienced passenger traffic going backward in September 2020, a worrying trend.

This is based on the percentage of traffic versus the year-ago month and compared with August.

The fact that so many did not improve is the result of rising coronavirus cases across the continent and the measures, including border closures and quarantining, to try to combat it.

Not all airports experienced the same, however.

Kos traffic was down by -56.8% in August and it improved to -54.7% in September, data shows. Down significantly, but it didn’t worsen.

In contrast, all other Greek airports – and most in Europe – deteriorated.

For example, Athens (-60.4% in August and -68.0% in September), Barcelona (-79.5%, -83.5%), Frankfurt (-78.2%, -82.9%), Helsinki (-86.6%, -91.7%), Keflavik (-84%, -95.6%), Larnaca (-80.0%, -83.5%), Oslo (-73.0%, -78.4%), and Vienna (-74.7%, -81.1%).

Zakinthos stands out.  In August, its passenger traffic was down by 51.9%, making it one of the better-performing Greek (and wider European) airports. In September, however, it fell to -70.7%.

Source: Hellenic CAA.

53 routes from Kos in September; Germany the top country

Kos had 53 scheduled routes in September (down from 73 in the year-ago month) across 12 countries.

Three countries – Germany, the UK, and Greece – had about three-quarters of the island’s seat capacity. 

Germany had 38% across 14 routes, while the UK had one-quarter and 12 routes.

The importance of Germany is highlighted in half of Kos’ top-10 routes being from the country. 

Expectedly, Athens was its top route, although London took the number-one spot on a city-pair basis with service from Gatwick, Heathrow, and Stansted.  Interestingly, Manchester was the UK’s top route to Kos on an airport-pair basis.

Unlike some Greek islands, there has been little penetration from Central and Eastern Europe, with less than a 4% share of scheduled seats. This is despite Prague being Kos’ 10th-largest route.

Although not operating in September, LOT served Kos from Katowice, Warsaw, and Wroclaw this July and August, part of the airline’s 85 new summer-seasonal routes this year.

Multiple routes were operating in September 2020 that were not operating in the year-ago month.  These include:

• British Airways from Heathrow (relaunched in July 2020 after nearly three years)
• Corendon Airlines Europe from Hannover (started in June 2020) and Nuremberg (October 2019)

• Jet2 from Newcastle (July 2020)
• SundAir from Berlin Tegel (relaunched in July 2020 after ending in November 2018), Bremen (July 2020), and Dresden (July 2020)

Kos’ top-10 routes in September 2020. Source: OAG Schedules Analyser.