Istanbul Airport stays Europe’s busiest with 1,587 daily flights

Istanbul Airport retained its status as Europe’s busiest aviation hub during the week of Sept. 21-27, averaging 1,587 daily flights, according to data released by the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation. The facility outpaced Amsterdam Schiphol, which recorded 1,423 daily movements, as well as Paris Charles de Gaulle with 1,384, Frankfurt with 1,359 and London Heathrow with 1,324 combined arrivals and departures.

Traffic at Istanbul Airport declined 1% from the previous week due to weaker domestic activity, while remaining broadly unchanged from the corresponding period of 2025, according to the EUROCONTROL overview. Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu highlighted the ranking in a social media post on Monday, stating that Istanbul Airport continued to maintain its leading position in Europe. He noted that Türkiye was continuing to strengthen the infrastructure that positions Istanbul as one of the world’s key air transport hubs.

Global traffic data

The EUROCONTROL report also ranked Istanbul Airport seventh globally by average daily departures, while Amsterdam placed 10th in the same metric. Across the European network, daily flights averaged 35,279 during the reporting period, marking a 1.1% decrease from the previous week but a 2.9% increase year-on-year.