London Heathrow is a beast of global transport infrastructure. The airport’s never-ending corridors witness millions of passengers each year, and is regularly named one of the planet’s busiest aviation hubs.
It’s no surprise, therefore, that a new report reveals Heathrow was one of the top 10 busiest airports in the world last year. According to the Airports Council International (ACI) annual rankings, Heathrow was the seventh busiest airport in the world in terms of passenger traffic (the total volume of people moving through the airport) in 2025. The report compares airports based on passenger traffic, aircraft movements, and cargo volumes to determine its top ten.
According to ACI’s findings, Heathrow saw a whopping 84 million passengers in 2025, nabbing the top spot in Europe. This was down by 0.7 percent from last year’s passenger traffic, but marked an increase of 4.4 percent from 2019. Heathrow was the only UK airport to make the list, but other big hitters in Europe were Paris (72 million), Amsterdam (68 million) and Madrid (68 million).
Last year Heathrow was named the most connected airport in the world. On its busiest day between September 2024 and August 2025, 59,240 passengers made connections at LHR, according to OAG’s Megahubs 2025 report. The Sussex hub offered globetrotters an enormous 226 destinations across 80 countries to choose from (which you can see on the airport’s interactive route map here).
The number one airport for passenger traffic in the world last year was Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International in the US, with more than 106 million passengers. In second place was Dubai International Airport, which recorded more than 95 million passengers in 2025, marking a 3.1 percent rise from the previous year. Tokyo Haneda airport came in at third with 91 million passengers.
The top 10 busiest airports by passenger traffic in the world in 2025
- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
- Dubai International Airport
- Tokyo Haneda Airport
- Dallas Fort Worth International Airport
- Shanghai Pudong International Airport
- Chicago O’Hare International
- London Heathrow Airport
- Istanbul Airport
- Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport
- Denver International Airport
Did you see that Heathrow just got a brand-new Wetherspoon pub?
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