When you think of busy airports in Europe London’s Heathrow is probably the first that comes to mind, but while it once was Europe’s busiest airport, another airport has it beat. Now, Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris has the distinction of being the busiest airport in Europe.
According to the Associated Press (AP), due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Charles de Gaulle Airport has surpassed Heathrow. Since the pandemic, flights were grounded at Heathrow and the airport didn’t approve passenger testing, which made the numbers of travelers decrease.
In fact, Heathrow plans to serve 22.6 million passengers this year and 37.1 million in 2021. With this loss in passengers, the airport’s revenue in 2020 has fallen by 72 percent compared to last years.
As reported by The Guardian, as of September, Heathrow has served 18.97 million passengers, a drop of 69 percent since the same time last year. Charles de Gaulle has served 19.27 million passengers as of September, which is partly due to passenger testing.
“The U.K.’s hub airport is no longer the busiest airport in Europe, competitors such as Charles de Gaulle have exceeded us in terms of passenger numbers as they benefit from a testing regime,” Heathrow said in a statement. “Without a rapid move to testing, the U.K. will fall even further behind its European competitors and the economic recovery will fail to get off the ground.”
