Heathrow is known as one of the busiest airports in the world, holding the title of busiest in Europe from 1996 to 2019, and regaining that title in 2023 post-Covid.
However, new figures have been released showing that another city has taken over as the busiest air hub. If you had to guess which city has taken the top spot, you might think of Madrid, Paris or Berlin, but you’d be wrong.
It’s actually Istanbul airport that has been named the busiest, transporting 8.15 million passengers in July, compared to Heathrow’s 7.86 million.
Istanbul named the busiest airport in Europe
While the Turkish airport saw a passenger increase of 2.3%, the west London airport actually saw a decrease of 1.5% compared to this time last year.
Despite being knocked from the number one position, Heathrow is still operating at full capacity, using its two runways, and the latest numbers are only set to fuel calls for the third runway. Heathrow has already proposed a third runway plan to the government for approval.
The new plans would mean 150 million passengers would be served by Heathrow each year, which is a significant rise on the 84.46 million passengers who passed through its doors in 2025.
Commenting on Istanbul becoming the busiest European airport, Heathrow said: “The case for expansion has never been clearer, as Heathrow was overtaken in July by Istanbul airport as the busiest hub in Europe.”
It was also revealed that the busiest day of the year so far for Heathrow was 19 July, most likely due to schools breaking up and families jetting off on their summer holidays, with 267,000 being recorded.
Istanbul Airport’s Chief Exec said of the news that it was a “significant milestone.” The airport runs 24-hours a day and was only opened in 2018.
