London's major airport, Heathrow, lost its top position among Europe's largest airports last year, partly due to travel restrictions in the UK keeping passengers away.

The new number one became Istanbul's new airport instead, which was completed as late as spring 2019, writes Bloomberg News.

Last year, Istanbul Airport handled 23.4 million passengers, enough to overtake Heathrow, where passenger numbers shrank by a significant 73 percent. The battle for second place is between Heathrow and Paris Charles de Gaulle, but it's not yet decided as Charles de Gaulle will only publish its full-year data later.

Fourth and fifth on the list of Europe's first airports became Amsterdam-Schiphol and Moscow Sheremetyevo. While most airports in Western Europe, such as Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Barcelona, saw traffic fall by around 70 percent last year, passenger numbers in Istanbul and Moscow have decreased significantly less.

Source: Nyhetsbyrån Direkt