Istanbul Airport surpasses Heathrow as Europe's busiest hub

Istanbul Airport has surpassed London Heathrow to become Europe's busiest airport, handling 8.15 million passengers in July compared to Heathrow's 7.86 million. The shift, reported by Airports Council International, marks the first time since the pandemic that Heathrow has lost the top position to a genuine rival. The Turkish hub's passenger count was approximately 290,000 higher than Heathrow's for the month.

The change reflects diverging trends at the two major hubs. Heathrow's July passenger total represented a 1.5 percent decrease compared to the same month last year, while Istanbul saw a 2.3 percent increase. Heathrow's figures were particularly impacted by a 20.2 percent year-on-year decline in passenger numbers on Middle East routes, which the airport attributed to the ongoing Iran-US conflict disrupting regional travel.

Heathrow has held the title of Europe's busiest airport for most of the past three decades, from 1996 through 2019. It lost the position in 2020 due to coronavirus travel restrictions, regained it in 2023, and maintained it until this July. The airport's chief executive, Thomas Woldbye, stated that the case for expansion has never been clearer,...