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South Korea’s Incheon Airport has become the world’s busiest for international passenger traffic for the first time.
The airport, located about 30 miles west of Seoul, served 38.4 million international passengers for the first six months of this year, according to preliminary data gathered by the Airports Council International (ACI), the global trade body for airports.
Incheon International Airport overtook London’s Heathrow Airport, which ranked second with 37.8 million passengers, followed by Singapore’s Changi Airport with 34.5 million.
The South Korean hub’s surge in popularity is partly due to the US-Iran conflict, which has caused passengers to be diverted from Middle Eastern hubs such as Dubai to alternative routes in Asia.
Dubai International Airport, which ranked second in 2024 and 2025 on full-year data, is forecast to fall outside the top five this year.
Incheon Airport, which opened in 2001, serves 101 airlines flying to 158 international destinations.
In 2024, an expansion project increased the airport’s annual capacity to 106 million passengers.
Kim Beom-ho, Incheon Airport’s acting president said the ranking reflected “the support of the government, the public’s encouragement and the hard work of everyone stationed at the airport”.
The news comes as Heathrow Airport was overtaken by Istanbul Airport as the busiest in Europe by total passenger numbers.
Figures released by ACI on Tuesday showed 7.9 million passengers passed through Heathrow in July compared with 8.15 million in Istanbul.
The data served as a prompt for Heathrow officials to once more call for further expansion.
“Heathrow is operating at capacity,” reads a statement from the transport hub. “The case for expansion has never been clearer, as Heathrow was overtaken in July by Istanbul airport as the busiest hub in Europe.
“Our plans will ensure the country gets the infrastructure it needs to stay competitive and will deliver all-important economic growth.”
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander launched a consultation on the renamed Heathrow expansion national policy statement in June, setting out the conditions needed if the project is to be given the go-ahead.