Istanbul’s Ataturk airport overtook Frankfurt to enter the European top three for the first time in 2015 as Turkish Airlines continued its rapid expansion and strikes at Deutsche Lufthansa AG hurt the German hub. London Heathrow, the main base for British Airways, remains Europe’s busiest airport, even as it struggles to add flights on runways that are effectively full, while Paris Charles de Gaulle, ranked second, suffered two months of falling numbers for the first time in almost two years after November’s terror attacks.
Frankfurt’s passenger tally increased 2.5 percent to 61.04 million, short of its 4 percent target, after walkouts cost Lufthansa 4,700 flights in November, mostly at its main base. Ataturk, which passed Madrid and Amsterdam in 2014, posted an 8.2 percent jump to 61.32 million, cementing its status as a global hub to rival those of Gulf carriers such as Dubai-based Emirates.