Istanbul Overtakes Heathrow as Europe’s Busiest Airport in July

Istanbul Airport surpassed Heathrow as Europe’s busiest airport in July after handling 8.15 million passengers compared with Heathrow’s 7.86 million.

The shift came despite Heathrow reporting a small annual traffic decline of 1.5 percent, while Istanbul recorded a 2.3 percent increase year on year for the same month. A steep drop in demand to the Middle East — down 20.2 percent in July compared with the same month last year — weighed on Heathrow’s figures.

Capacity pressures and expansion plans

Heathrow has pointed to the latest numbers as evidence that the airport needs additional capacity. With the two existing runways operating near their limits, London is planning a third runway that, if built, could raise annual capacity from about 85 million passengers (the figure recorded in 2025) to a potential 150 million.

Heathrow dominated the European ranking for decades, holding the top spot from 1996 until 2019 before the pandemic disrupted air traffic. It regained first place in 2023, but Istanbul’s July performance has now overtaken it.

Istanbul Airport, significantly newer than many of Europe’s legacy hubs, opened in 2018 and gradually absorbed traffic from the old Ataturk Airport. Today it serves as a major hub linking Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Heathrow reopened to traffic after yesterday's fire.

Photo: press material from the event