Every day, over 30,000 commercial aircraft depart and arrive from European airports. In addition to this, 671 million visitors from outside the European countries visit the continent each year. As a result, all of Europe’s major cities have been furnished with highly functional international airports to manage the traffic. There are tons of busiest airports in the countries of Europe. We will include 10 of the busiest airports in Europe in this post.
Knowing them can help you plan your trips accordingly. The 2020-2021 pandemic has taught us to be safe while traveling outdoors. Due to this fact, all the European airports have been following the standard precautionary guidelines for the same. By planning your trips with these busy airports, your health will also stay safe.
Note: These airports are listed on the basis of their previous year’s data reports.
This summary consists of the list of the busiest European airports by passenger numbers, aircraft traffic, and more.
Which are the Busiest Airports in Europe in 2023?
This section of our blog will focus on busy European airports, especially in 2023. This list of airports like London Heathrow and Amsterdam airport will be based on their passenger traffic. In addition to the passenger occupancy of these airports, you will also get to see their other characteristics and passenger growth as well.
London Heathrow Airport
Recognized by the LHR Airport code, London Heathrow Airport is the fastest-growing airport in Europe. This airport welcomes an immense number of passengers every year. According to the previous year’s records, in 2023, the number of passengers grew by about 2%. It is known to be the busiest airport in Europe due to the vast capacity of its passengers. On average, this airport constitutes about 80,886,589 travelers every year.
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is counted amongst the busiest European airports by passenger numbers. Talking about its passenger capacity, it accommodates nearly 71,707,144 passengers each year. Recent years saw a massive increase in passenger traffic by 0.9%. It is also known as the largest airport in the country of Netherlands which additionally helps it to manage more traffic. This airport, located by its Amsterdam Airport Schiphol code, is known to be busy because of its aircraft movements too.
Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport
Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport is the largest international airport in France. Additionally, this airport is a busy European airport. It can carry 76,150,007 travelers throughout the year. In 2023, it had a growth of 5.4% in terms of international passengers traveling worldwide. This airport’s location is identified using its Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport code. This airport is also recognized as Roissy Airport.
Frankfurt am Main Airport
Frankfurt Airport, having the FRA Airport code, is the 15th busiest airport in the world. It is the 4th busiest airport in Europe because approximately 70,556,072 travelers depart from it each year.
Apart from this, FRA Airport is also Germany’s largest airport according to passenger capacity. This airport saw an addition of 1.5% in the number of its passenger traffic. Its size can be a reason behind this.
Barcelona–El Prat Josep Tarradellas Airport
Barcelona-EL Prat Josep Tarradellas Airport (Barcelona-EL Prat Airport code) is the second busiest airport in Spain. This airport gained an increase of 5% growth in 2020 as compared to the years 2018 and 2019. Known as the 5th busiest airport in Europe, it has enormous traffic of 61,734,037 passengers.
Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport
Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport is Spain’s busiest airport because of its number of passengers. This airport is highly recognized in the list of popular airports in Europe as it can board 52,686,314 passengers every year. Comprising the MAD Airport code, this airport saw an expansion of 6.6% in the year 2020 in comparison with the years 2018 and 2019.
Istanbul Airport
Istanbul Airport is the only airport that had no ranking found in previous records. With its IST Airport code, this airport replaced another airport in Istanbul called Istanbul Atatürk Airport due to its scheduled flights. It serves a passenger traffic of 52,578,008 each year, thus making it on the list of the 10 busiest airports in Europe.
Munich Airport
Coming to the 9th busiest airport in Europe, let us now look at Munich Airport. Surprisingly, this airport is also the second busiest in the country of Germany. It saw a productive growth of 3.6% in 2020. Over a year, this airport serves around 47,941,348 passengers worldwide. This airport is known by the MUC Airport code. Hence, it is also known as MUC Airport.
Sheremetyevo International Airport
Sheremetyevo International Airport is known to be at the top of our list of the busiest airports in Europe. With an increase in passenger capacity of 9% compared to 2018 and 2019, it has been able to secure this position. It saw a huge number of travelers, around 49,438,545 last year. It is known to be the fastest-growing airport due to the number of its passengers. Its popularity is also the reason why so many travelers prefer SVO Airport. This airport (SVO Airport code) is the primary hub for the national air carrier named Aeroflot.
Gatwick Airport
Coming to the last one of the busiest airports in Europe, Gatwick Airport comes 10th on our list. LGW Airport is among the busiest airports in the world. It has just a single runway, acquiring an increase of 1.1% in 2020. This airport carries around 46,574,786 passengers every year. Being easily located, many flyers prefer the services of this airport. Its location can be easily reached using its LGW Airport code.
Conclusion
We guess you are now an informed traveler who knows the top 10 busiest airports in Europe in 2023. The information in this blog has been based on the number of passengers and the growth of passenger traffic in 2023. We hope it will be helpful to you in planning your trips now.
If you think we missed anything in our blog, then you can write to us using the reply section below.
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