Istanbul Airport was Europe’s busiest airport in August, while Sabiha Gokcen International Airport posted the fastest growth among Europe’s largest airports, according to a monthly traffic report from Airports Council International Europe.
Istanbul Airport handled 8.6 million passengers in August, up 3% from a year earlier. London’s Heathrow served 7.9 million, and Paris’ Charles de Gaulle 6.9 million.
Passenger traffic at European airports overall rose 3.9% in July and 3.1% in August compared with the same months last year. Turkish airports saw an increase of 4.4% in August.
Sabiha Gokcen, in the group’s “major” category of airports with more than 40 million annual passengers, saw traffic rise 9.5% in August, the fastest in its class. Madrid followed at 4.9%, Barcelona at 4.5%, Istanbul Airport at 3% and Rome’s Fiumicino at 1.4%.
Istanbul Airport also led Europe in air cargo. Cargo traffic at European airports fell 6.1% in August from a year earlier, but Istanbul Airport’s rose 18.1%, the highest growth among Europe’s 10 busiest cargo airports. It also ranked first in total cargo volume.
ACI Europe’s monthly data covers more than 450 airports and represents over 95% of European airport traffic.
