Top 5 airports by passenger volumes by Aci Europe (see AVIONEWS)

London-Heathrow once again retained its position as Europe’s busiest airport in 2025, welcoming 84.48 million passengers –an increase of +0.7% over the preceding year thanks to airlines operating larger aircraft into the capacity-constrained British hub. While remaining in the second position, Istanbul saw its passenger traffic increase by +5.5%, coming short of London-Heathrow by just 40,000 passengers –with a total 84.44 million passengers. Over the past 5 years, passenger traffic at the Turkish hub has expanded by almost a quarter. Paris-"CDG" continued to hold the 3rd position with 72.02 million passengers –an increase of +2.5% over the preceding year. Amsterdam-Schiphol came in the 4th position with an increase of +2.9% to 68.77 million passengers. The Dutch hub was closely followed by Madrid in the 5th position with 68.12 million passengers and a +3% increase. 

Aside from these top 5 airports and amongst the Major airports (over 40 million passengers), Istanbul-"Sabiha Gokcen"’s performance is worth noting as its passenger traffic increased by an impressive +16.7% last year to 48.41 million passengers. 

Olivier Jankovec, Director General of ACI EUROPE commented: “If anything, last year’s traffic performance is yet another proof that air connectivity is a powerful and largely resilient economic driver, increasingly intertwined with tourism. This reflects the rise of experiential consumption over material consumption – a deep-seated cross-generational structural shift that is reshaping our economies, and for which Europe is uniquely well positioned. This means aviation is a critical enabler of competitiveness. Yet too many governments and policy makers still fail to connect the dots, and do not treat aviation as the strategic asset it is – especially in the EU".   

Looking ahead to 2026, he said: “Passenger traffic at Europe’s airports is set to continue expanding this year, with growth expected to further normalise at around +3.3%. Upside potential stems from modestly improving European economic prospects, while travel remains among consumers’ top discretionary spending priorities – even as geopolitics and geoeconomics are likely to further test the sector’s resilience. Many airports are also likely to benefit from Europeans being more prone to travel within Europe rather than externally, while our continent will remain a destination of choice for non–Europeans. Meanwhile, Europe’s airlines are projected to deliver the strongest financial performance globally, and the supply chain pressures constraining their capacity deployment are expected to somewhat ease. However, infrastructure capacity both on the ground and in the air will remain a key bottleneck. We are especially concerned with the full rollout of the Schengen Entry/Exit System as of April".