Heathrow, London’s largest airport, lost its status as Europe’s busiest airport to Istanbul in July.
Last month, 7.86 million passengers passed through its four terminals, while 8.15 million passengers passed through Istanbul Airport.
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The conflict between the U.S. and Israel with Iran had an impact on passenger traffic at Heathrow, the BBC reports, with flights to the Middle East falling 20.2% year-over-year in July.
Annual data from the trade organization Airports Council International show that Heathrow was Europe’s busiest airport from 1996 to 2019. It lost that title in 2020 due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, before regaining it in 2023 and retaining it ever since.
Heathrow continues to operate its two runways at nearly maximum capacity and is seeking government approval to build a third. A proposal by the airport’s owners to expand it would allow it to serve 150 million passengers annually.
The airport recorded 84.46 million passengers in 2025. July 19 was the busiest day of the year so far, with 267,000 passengers passing through, as many schools closed for summer vacation.
Source: Proto Thema
