Istanbul Airport ranked first in Europe by monthly passenger traffic for the first time, handling 8.15 million passengers in July 2026 and surpassing London Heathrow Airport, which served 7.859 million passengers.
Heathrow’s passenger traffic declined by 1.5% year on year in July, while airport management reiterated the need for a third runway as the airport approaches its capacity limits. Despite the decline, Heathrow recorded its busiest day of 2026 on July 19, handling 267,000 passengers.
Istanbul Airport also set a new daily record on August 9, serving 289,732 passengers. The figure was announced as the highest number of passengers ever handled by a single airport in one day in both Turkish and European aviation history
