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London’S Heathrow airport extended its lead as Europe’s busiest hub last year after welcoming larger aircraft, as Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam saw their positions challenged by rapid growth at Istanbul Ataturk.
Heathrow drew 72,3 million passengers in 2013, a 3,4 percent jump that outstripped both the 0,7 percent gain at Paris Charles de Gaulle to 62 million and third-ranked Frankfurt’s 0,9 percent advance to 58 million.

Istanbul reaped a 14 percent surge to 51,3 million, taking it past Madrid and almost level with Amsterdam Schiphol, with a growth rate that puts it within reach of supplanting the German hub by this time next year.

Istanbul, like hubs in the Persian Gulf, is winning an increasing share of the intercontinental transfer traffic that’s been a mainstay of flights at West European airports. While London’s appeal as an end destination and an inflow of jets like the Airbus A380 helped Heathrow overcome the limitations of only two landing strips, Paris and Frankfurt suffered slowing growth for a third year amid restrictive night-flight times and taxes.

“Heathrow is an origin and destination market,” said Donal O’Neill, an analyst at Goodbody Stockbrokers in Dublin. With economies strengthening, cities like London, Paris and Rome become more attractive as an end point, he said, while traffic dominates in Frankfurt, which though Germany’s banking centre is a much smaller city.

Aircraft movements fell 3,9 percent to 472 206 at Air France (AF)’s chief base, Aeroports de Paris said on yesterday. Frankfurt, home to Deutsche Lufthansa AG, had 472 692 flights, a 2 percent decline, Fraport AG said the same day.

While both hubs had more flights than crowded Heathrow, the UK base turned the tables on its continental rivals in 2013 after its growth trailed Frankfurt and Paris in 2012. That year, Heathrow’s passenger tally rose 0,9 percent, versus a gain of 1,1 percent at Charles de Gaulle and 1,9 percent at Frankfurt.

“German airports are lagging behind other European countries, despite Germany’s economy clearly growing stronger,” said Fraport Chief Executive Officer Stefan Schulte. “Something is clearly wrong.”

The number of flights to and from Heathrow fell 0,4 percent year-on-year to 469 552 in 2013, it said January 13.
The average number of passengers per jet gained 3,7 percent to 154,8 as British Airways, the hub’s top user, introduced its first A380 services, adding to super-jumbo operations by carriers including Dubai-based Emirates and Qantas Airways Ltd. — Bloomberg