Heathrow’s days as Europe’s busiest airport are numbered
By B.R.
JUST two years ago, Heathrow airport in London was the busiest international airport in the world. Last year, it lost its mantle to Dubai. It is still, at least, the busiest in Europe. Though probably not for much longer.
According to statistics released by ACI Europe, an airport association, around 75m flyers passed through Heathrow in 2015, an increase of 2.2% on the year before. Paris was second with 66m. But the most significant threat to Europe’s main hub can be found in third place. The number of passengers passing through Istanbul Ataturk rose by 9.1% to 62m (see chart). If the two airports maintain the same pace of growth, Istanbul could overtake Heathrow within two years, reckons ACI.
That is if it can squeeze the flights in. Ataturk, like Heathrow, is close to full up. Unlike Britain, however, Turkey has a clear plan on how to deal with the crunch. While the British government dithers about where to build London’s first new full-length runway since the second world war, Turkey is busy constructing what is expected to be the world’s largest airport, with a projected capacity of 200m, to replace creaking Ataturk. The new facility hopes to open to its first flights in 2018.
Turkish ascent seems inevitable. Its aviation sector has some big advantages, says ACI. One is demographic. The country has a large, young population, many of whom are potential air passengers. Turkey had the world’s sixth largest domestic air market in 2014 after America, China, India, Brazil and Indonesia, according to IATA, an airline association. And Istanbul, which straddles two continents, is a perfect stopover between Europe and Asia. What is more, it has a government willing to back the aviation industry and a national airline with an excellent reputation and big plans.
Londoners, no doubt will be ambivalent should Heathrow no longer hold sway. Many are already fed up with the noise that such a large airport inflicts. And passengers on connecting flights will not miss the endless holding patterns they endure when flying into an airport that is running at full stretch. But British businesses will surely mourn. What London loses, Istanbul will gain.
