Istanbul Airport tops European flight rankings

ISTANBUL

Istanbul Airport handled an average of 1,491 arriving and departing flights a day during Oct. 19-25, making it Europe’s busiest airport, according to EUROCONTROL.

Amsterdam Schiphol followed with 1,371 daily flights, ahead of Paris Charles de Gaulle with 1,369, Frankfurt with 1,303 and Madrid Barajas with 1,299.

Flight numbers at Istanbul were 2 percent lower than the previous week and 3 percent below the same period last year. Antalya Airport also featured in the top 10, placing 10th with 875 daily flights.

The report was published on Oct. 29, the eighth anniversary of Istanbul Airport’s inauguration by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in 2018.

The airport has continued to expand its infrastructure, opening a fourth main runway on Sept. 18. The addition brought its total to six runways, including two backup runways.

The new runway is the airport’s first to run east-west. The Transport and Infrastructure Ministry said it was designed to shorten taxiing and flight times, particularly for domestic and eastbound services, while providing more options for operations in adverse weather.