IGA Istanbul Airport has announced a new European record for daily passengers – surpassing the previous mark set by London Heathrow.
The Turkish airport said that 272,132 passengers had travelled through the airport on Sunday (27 July) – beating the existing daily record of 268,000 travellers at Heathrow on 30 June 2024.
IGA Istanbul and Heathrow have been vying for the position of Europe’s busiest airport in the past few years, with the UK airport just maintaining top spot in 2024.
Earlier this year, IGA Istanbul increased flight capacity by introducing a new system allowing it to operate flights from three runways at the same time. This has increased the airport’s hourly capacity from 120 to 148 flights – IGA Istanbul also set a new record for its highest number of daily flights (1,695) on 18 July.