Istanbul Airport became the busiest airport in Europe last year with an average of 1,375 flights per day, according to a recent report by the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol).
Eurocontrol released its 2023 European Aviation Overview report, which apart from the airline traffic provides a detailed snapshot of the latest trends in the number of carried passengers, airport departure punctuality, traffic flows and jet fuel prices.
According to the report, Istanbul Airport finished the year in the top position for the second year in a row, thus maintaining its position as the busiest airport in Europe.
The daily average number of flights at Istanbul Airport in 2023 increased by 19% compared to the previous year, reaching 1,375.
Additionally, on June 22, 2023, Istanbul Airport set a new airport network record with 1,684 flights.
Istanbul Airport was followed by Amsterdam Schiphol with an average of 1,255 flights, London Heathrow with 1,251 flights, Paris Charles de Gaulle with 1,247 flights and Frankfurt Airport with 1,179 flights.
The mega airport, along the Black Sea coast, has managed to turn into one of the most important transit centers in aviation since it was officially declared open in late October 2018, before becoming fully operational in April 2019.
According to the state-based traffic, Türkiye with a 16% increase showed the highest rise in average daily flights in Europe last year.
As a result, it ranked sixth among countries with the busiest daily flights (takeoffs/landings) in Europe last year. The daily average number of flights in the country in 2023 reached 3,026, according to Eurocontrol.
The countries with the highest average daily number of flights in Europe were the United Kingdom with 5,290, Spain with 4,616, Germany with 4,532, France with 3,999 and Italy with 3,500.
Furthermore, in Türkiye, the average daily number of flights in 2023 exceeded the levels of the year 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, by over 8%.
On the other hand, the total number of flights in Europe in 2023 surged by 10% compared to the previous year, reaching 10.2 million.
The number of European flights has shown a continued recovery since the end of the COVID-19 outbreak, with a particularly noticeable increase in flight volume during the summer months. When compared to pre-pandemic levels, European flights in 2023 closed at 92% of 2019 levels.
The data by Eurocontrol also revealed that the national flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THY) secured the third spot among the top 10 aircraft operators with an average of 1,443 flights daily in 2023, up 16% year-over-year.