The COVID-19 pandemic has caused notable changes in aviation rankings. In Europe, London Heathrow lost the supremacy, the first position in the ranking of airports being occupied by Istanbul Airport.
In 2020, London Heathrow International Airport reported a decrease of approximately 73% in the number of passengers compared to the previous year. In 2019, London's main airport reported more than 80 million passengers. In 2020, unfortunately, the number of passengers was just over 22.1 million.
In the pandemic, the luckiest airport was Istanbul Airport, which reported 23.4 million passengers, down 56% from 2019. 2020 was the first full calendar year of operation.
Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport maintains its second position with 22.3 million passengers, down about 70% compared to 2019 when it reported 76.2 million passengers.
A surprise in this ranking is the Moscow Sheremetyevo International Airport, which occupied the 5th position, reporting 19.8 million passengers.
Most Western European airports reported declines of more than 70% in passenger numbers, while airports in Turkey and Russia reported smaller declines, all depending on how the authorities decided to manage the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021 does not come with high hopes either. Italy has decided to maintain the restrictive measures until April, while Austria and Germany apply restrictive measures domestically and internationally until February. Most EU countries have applied or will apply restrictive measures to limit the spread of new COVID-19 strains, which greatly discourages non-essential travel.