As if flying wasn’t stressful enough, now there’s something else that passengers flying from Heathrow Airport need to consider before their holiday.
We’re all guilty of not leaving early enough before a flight to drop off our luggage and get through security, which means we often have to run around Duty Free to get to the gate on time.
But if you’re flying from Heathrow this summer, you might want to change your strategy and leave a little earlier, as arriving late could be a big mistake.
That’s because London Airport has just been revealed as the busiest airport in the world, so you’ll probably have to expect some long queues.
London’s Heathrow Airport handled more than 79 million passengers in 2023, and has now moved up from seventh to fourth place in the rankings of the world’s busiest airports.
According to Airports Council International (ACI), it has now overtaken Denver, Tokyo and Istanbul, and is just 3% behind Dallas-Fort Worth (third place) in the rankings and 9% behind Dubai (second place).
Topping the list of Europe’s busiest airports, Heathrow is the only European hub to feature in the top 10 busiest in the world.
It’s a huge achievement, really… (or at least that’s one way of looking at it).
The 10 busiest airports in the world
If you are passing through one of the following airports, you may want to allow some extra time…
- Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson, United States
- Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- Dallas-Fort Worth, United States
- London Heathrow, United Kingdom
- Tokyo Japan
- Denver, United States
- Istanbul, Türkiye
- Los Angeles United States
- Chicago O’Hare Airport, United States
- New Delhi, India
In fact, in June, London Airport recorded its busiest day on record, with more than 268,000 passengers passing through on the last day of the month.
Who tops the rankings? The world’s busiest airport remains Atlanta, with more than 100 million passengers in 2023.
However, this is partly because it is home to Delta, the world’s largest airline in terms of revenue.
So if you have a holiday coming up (particularly if you’re flying from Heathrow), make sure you allow yourself plenty of time before your flight.
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