Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport, squeezes in 700,000 more passengers
Frankfurt — London’s Heathrow Airport, operating at full capacity since the start of the decade, eked out a further 700,000 passengers to extend its lead as Europe’s top travel hub in 2016 as growth in Paris stuttered and Istanbul and Frankfurt fell back. Heathrow’s traveller tally rose 1% to 75.7-million though aircraft movements were up only 0.2% with the trend toward bigger aircraft. Heathrow is the main base for British Airways. Paris Charles de Gaulle stayed in second spot with its passenger total rising 0.3% to 65.9-million, hit by a slump in demand for travel to France after a spate of terror attacks. Security concern also cut numbers 2% at Istanbul Ataturk, which dropped from third to fifth, swapping places with Amsterdam Schiphol, which gained 9.1%. The Dutch airport has benefited from its six runways, tied to growth last year at the KLM and Transavia arms of Air France-KLM Group. But it could begin to hit capacity constraints with movements rising to 479,000 in 2016, equal...
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