Istanbul airport poised to become Europe’s busiest hub in near future

London Heathrow might have retained its position as Europe’s busiest aviation hub last year, industry data shows that Istanbul Airport is rapidly narrowing the gap and could soon overtake it, according to a European industry body.

Heathrow handled 84.48 million passengers in the past year, marking a modest 0.7% increase in traffic, the group reported. The rise was partly attributed to airlines deploying larger aircraft at what the European industry group ACI Europe described as “the capacity-constrained British hub.”

British authorities have approved plans for a third runway at Heathrow, but the expansion is not expected to be completed before 2035, leaving limited room for near-term growth.

Meanwhile, Istanbul Airport — where traffic has climbed steadily since it opened in 2018 — recorded passenger growth of 5.5%, reaching 84.44 million travellers, just 40,000 fewer than Heathrow. “Over the past 5 years, passenger traffic at the Turkish hub has expanded by almost a quarter,” ACI Europe said.

Türkiye’s geographic position has strengthened its role as a gateway between Europe and destinations across Asia, as well as a hub for routes linking Russia — facing Western sanctions over its war in Ukraine — with the rest of the world.

The remaining top five European airports by passenger numbers were Paris-Charles de Gaulle with 72 million passengers, Amsterdam-Schiphol with 68.8 million, and Madrid with 68.1 million.

ACI Europe also highlighted strong growth at Türkiye’s second-largest airport, Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen. Its performance “is worth noting as its passenger traffic increased by an impressive +16.7% last year to 48.41 million passengers,” the group said. Both Sabiha Gökçen and Istanbul Airport recorded the strongest passenger traffic performance for 2025, according to the report.

Barcelona (BCN) and Munich (MUC), each posting growth of 4.4%, along with Rome (FCO), which saw an increase of 4.3%, completed the top five for traffic growth.

Across the region, airports outside the EU outperformed the broader European average. ACI Europe said passenger volumes at non-EU hubs expanded by 6.2%, compared with 4% growth within the EU+ market, which includes the European Union, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and countries in the European Economic Area.

Overall, passenger traffic across Europe rose 4.4% last year to a record 2.6 billion travellers, “entirely driven by international traffic,” the group said. The figures indicate a return to “normalized” growth patterns following the sharp rebound after the COVID-19 pandemic.

They also underscore the sector’s resilience despite generally sluggish European economies, higher airfares, ongoing supply and capacity constraints, and persistently volatile geopolitical conditions, ACI Europe noted.

By Nazrin Sadigova