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London Heathrow is Europe’s busiest airport, with more than 84.48 million passengers passing through in 2025.
It ranks seventh busiest in the world, down two places from last year but with a 0.7% increase in traveller traffic from 2024 and a 4.4% rise from 2019.
The rankings come from Airports Council International (ACI) World, and are based on the number of passengers boarding and disembarking, with transit passengers only counted once.
Istanbul Airport in Turkey was just behind the UK capital, with 84.43 million passengers. The airport fell in the 2025 world rankings from seventh to eighth, but made huge gains compared to 2019, when it was 28th in the world.
The third busiest airport in Europe is Paris Charles de Gaulle with 72 million passengers, up 2.5% on 2024 but down 5.4% on 2019. It ranked 14th in the world.
Fourth place went to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, with 68.77 million passengers, putting it 17th in the world ranking. In a similar trend to Paris, its numbers were up 2.9% on 2024 but down 4.1% on 2019.
Rounding out the top five is Madrid-Barajas Airport, with 68.11 million passengers, ranking 18th in the world. It saw a significant increase in traveller traffic, up 3% on 2024 and 10.4% on 2019.
In 2025, global air travel reached 9.8 billion passengers, bringing the industry closer than ever to the 10 billion-passenger threshold.
World’s top 10 busiest airports in 2025 (based on total passengers)
- 1. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Georgia, US: 106,302,208
- 2. Dubai International Airport, UAE: 95,192,160
- 3. Tokyo Haneda Airport, Japan: 91,679,814
- 4. Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Texas, US: 85,660,127
- 5. Shanghai Pudong International Airport, China: 84,994,548
- 6. O’Hare International Airport, Chicago, US: 84,856,018
- 7. London Heathrow Airport, UK: 84,482,126
- 8. Istanbul Airport, Turkey: 84,437,710
- 9. Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, China: 83,582,952
- 10. Denver International Airport, Colorado, US: 82,427,962
Heathrow also busiest for international traffic only
Europe’s airports performed better in the world ranking for international traffic only.
London Heathrow was again the busiest in Europe, and the second in the world, with 79.87 million passengers, meaning around 4.6 million flew domestically last year.
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol followed, coming fifth in the world ranking, with 68.76 million international passengers.
Other European airports in the global top 10 for international passengers include Istanbul Airport (sixth), Paris Charles de Gaulle (seventh) and Frankfurt (ninth).
“European airports remain among the world’s largest international gateways, despite operating close to available capacity in several markets,” the report notes.
Europe’s top 10 busiest airports in 2025 (international passengers only)
- 1. London Heathrow Airport, UK: 79,874,784
- 2. Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Netherlands: 68,767,548
- 3. Istanbul Airport, Türkiye: 66,608,849
- 4. Paris Charles de Gaulle, France: 66,135,938
- 5. Frankfurt Airport, Germany: 57,528,528
- 6. Madrid-Barajas Airport, Spain: 51,394,869
- 7. Barcelona-El Prat Airport, Spain: 43,256,689
- 8. Rome Fiumicino Airport, Italy: 40,606,167
- 9. London Gatwick Airport, UK: 39,812,458
- 10. Munich Airport, Germany: 37,274,455
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