Paris Charles de Gaulle overtakes Heathrow as Europe’s largest airport

Wednesday, October 28, 2020

Heathrow lost its place as the largest airport in Europe for the first time and has been overtaken by the Paris Charles de Gaulle airport. As the total losses at the U.K. airport climbed to £1.5bn in the first nine months of 2020, the number of passengers passing through Charles de Gaulle surpassed Heathrow, making it the largest European Airport at present.

Heathrow has repeatedly called upon the government to take necessary actions for boosting travel in the U.K. The government has announced an intention to introduce testing for passengers from high-risk countries from December in order to help restart the U.K. economy, but further details are yet to arrive.

Heathrow has also revised down expected passenger demand figures for next year. Passenger numbers are now forecasted to be 22 million this year, and 37 million in 2021, compared to a June forecast of 29 million this year and 63 million in 2021.Heathrow welcomed 81 million passengers last year.

Heathrow chief executive, John Holland-Kaye, said that Britain is falling behind because it has been too slow to embrace passenger testing. He shared that European leaders acted quicker and now their economies are reaping the benefits. He also mentioned that Paris has overtaken Heathrow as Europe’s largest airport for the first time ever, and Frankfurt and Amsterdam are quickly gaining ground.

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