Türkiye's Istanbul Airport has topped the list of European air hubs welcoming more than 40 million passengers per year according to data from the Airports Council International (ACI) Europe, Türkiye's transport minister announced.

Abdulkadir Uraloglu reported on Thursday that Sabiha Gokcen Airport – Istanbul Airport’s sister facility, located on the city’s Anatolian side – was number two in the Mega Airports category of hubs welcoming 25-40 million passengers, with a 13.2 percent rise in the same period.

In the mega airports category, Antalya Airport in the Turkish Mediterranean resort city ranked fifth with an 8.6 percent rise this April compared to the same month in 2019, he added.

The ACI Europe data showed that passenger traffic across the European airport network grew 8.5 percent at an annualised pace in April to reach 99.8 percent of its pre-pandemic level.

London Heathrow was the busiest European airport, with traffic up 4.8 percent annually in April.

Istanbul Airport was the second-busiest European air hub, welcoming 6.6 million passengers in April, up 10.5 percent year-on-year, Uraloglu said, followed by Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Amsterdam Schiphol, and Madrid.

He underlined that with a 42.7 percent year-on-year rise in freight traffic, Istanbul Airport showed the best performance in April. According to ACI Europe, freight traffic across the European airport network expanded 12.4 percent in April over the same period last year.