Hence, my honest attachment to these words which uninterruptedly attracts me to them and makes me want to say - prove it! Yesterday, while working on a completely different issue, I found out about a motto that drives the management of Athens International Airport. Not more, not less but WE DELIVER!

This time the recipient of the delivery are all airlines operating to and from ATH. The campaign was started only this year so it's hard to say in which way it affected/may affect the concerned carriers. Generally, the concept is not too bad. Fresh, innovative with plenty of ideas of how to expand your business - that's how they want to be seen at ATH & that's rougly what airlines would like the airports to be. However, I'm not so sure about the posters' layout, especially that hardly legible font. Of course it is eye-catching, although I would not suspect airline management of being so badly superficial as to get themselves caught by these posters.

Anyway, if you don't fancy the idea of deciphering the posters, the campaign also contains a lenghty spot that doesn't actually convey any important message. Ok, maybe it does. I had a feeling that after completing such a difficult task as inventing this campaign, all the Greek can do is take some time off and go for holidays. You can find the spot here.

Despite me being a deeply sarcastic animal, it is highly positive that folks at ATH are innovative and try to attract attention in an unusual way. One might say, it's nothing new (vide: Fraport or Vienna Airports). But I say, there are thousands of airports that don't even do that much!

And since ATH opened in its new location (Spata) in 2002, the traffic was going up. This year, due to the unfavourable market conditions, the year on year benchmark is in red - it will be interesting to see if an agressive campaign is able to change this pattern. For your watching pleasure a little chart below - feel free to analyse it in your spare time!

I know, there's not much to analyse. You can e-mail me begging for a more detiled version.

Pretax profit rose to 125.7 million euros from 94.6 million euros a year earlier, the company said in a faxed statement today.

Passenger numbers rose 10 percent to 16.5 million travelers as airlines added flights and more people took vacations in Greece.

The airport, majority-owned by the Greek state and managed by German construction company Hochtief AG, may sell shares to the public under a government asset-disposal plan.

The number of flights increased 8 percent to more than 200,000, the company said in a statement today. Fifteen new airlines began using the airport, including Air China Ltd, Continental Airlines Inc and Aer Lingus Group Plc.

The number of Eastern Europeans using the airport, which is operated by German builder Hochtief AG, rose 23 percent, as did the number of North Americans. Flights from low-cost carriers also contributed to an 18 percent increase in the tourist total to 2.3 million, the airport company said.

Athens is offering discounts to airlines to attract more customers as the Greek government prepares to sell a stake. Greece owns 55 percent of the airport, while Hochtief owns 26 percent and manages 14 percent. The pair said three years ago they'd rework the concession contract to prepare for a sale.

Ten destinations were added last year, taking the total to 116 in 50 countries. The number of international passengers to Western European locations, the airport's biggest market, rose 7.7 percent as Aegean Airlines, the second-biggest Greek carrier, and discount airlines added routes.

Arrivals from the US for any reason recorded an increase of 34 percent compared to 2006, while the number of US vacationers arriving at Athens Airport rose by 13.5 percent.

The US market – along with those of Germany, Britain and Italy – is among the most profitable for Greece’s tourism sector, in terms of either number of arrivals or foreign exchange income. The impressive rise in tourist numbers from the US started in 2005 and continued for the next two years.

Unlike other traditional tourism markets which were not greatly influenced by the Olympics, the Athens 2004 Games made a major contribution to the increase in the number of arrivals from the US.

In addition to the overall promotion of Greece during the 2004 Games, safety concerns were also allayed. Feelings of security are taken into serious consideration primarily by US visitors when choosing a holiday destination.

In addition, an important contribution to rising arrivals has been the considerable funds spent on advertising Greece as a tourist destination in the US market, as well as the country’s upgraded participation in international fairs and exhibitions.

As for 2008, concerns about tourism are focused on the rising appreciation of the euro against the US dollar. This, naturally, is an issue faced by all European destinations, as it intensifies competition amid efforts to claim larger shares from the US tourism market.

In contrast, Greece’s closest competitor, Turkey, has no reason to worry about currency considerations. Security seems to be the greatest problem US visitors face in that country. However, such a development necessitates the launch of an intensive advertising campaign in the US also this year in order to maintain the rising numbers of US visitors to Greece.

Arrivals of US visitors to Greece in 2006 recorded an increase of approximately 400 percent compared to 2005. In 2007, 416,381 arrivals via direct flights were recorded from the US, against 319,146 one year previously.

The survey carried out by AIA on the US market shows that 435,490 Americans who arrived at Athens Airport in 2007 stated they were coming to Greece for a vacation, compared to 383,890 in 2006.

AIA communication and marketing director Giorgos Karamanos says an increase in air transport capacity – with new airlines connecting Athens with US cities – has helped the continuing rise in US arrivals.

Last summer, 79 percent of US visitors said they had come to Greece for a vacation (76 percent in 2006), 11 percent said they came to visit relatives and friends (13 percent in 2006) and 10 percent reported that they were on a business trip (11 percent in 2006).

Their stay in Greece increased by one day, to 16, of which six were spent in Athens. Most US visitors held a college degree, while the average amount spent by Americans in Greece was much higher than any other foreign visitor group. Their numbers were evenly split between men and women.

The vast majority of tourists from the US stated as their place of residence New York, followed by Atlanta, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington and Philadelphia.

The watchdog published a report yesterday following a series of complaints from locals following the opening of the airport in March 2001. According to the independent body’s research, the main problem stems from a fault with the design and construction of the airport’s runways.

The Ombudsman also underlined that there has been an increase in people living in the area in the last six years and more measures are needed to protect residents from airplane noise.

The AIA has placed 10 monitoring stations around the airport and was given the all clear with regard to noise levels in 2005 by a team of inspectors from the Environment and Public Works Ministry.