Heathrow Airport
The most famous and the largest London airport with the size of 12 square kilometres and with an annual passenger number around 75 million has no competitors of its kind in Europe. At the same time it is the only airport with one of the runways and terminal to be opened by Britain´s Queen Elizabeth II. 76,000 people work on the territory of the airport what is nearly equal to the number of citizens of the Slovak town of Nitra. Heathrow is monitored by 6,500 security cameras and 1,400 aircrafts take off from its runways every day. Breakfast is served here the most frequently, what means in figures approx. 5 million eggs and only by a half a million slices of ham less. The operation costs of the airport are 975,000,000 £ annually, other 660,000,000 £ are dedicated to modernization.
Charles de Gaulle Airport
The largest airport in Paris is looking at its conqueror from a distance from the second rank. Approximately 66,000,000 passengers are processed here annually. The colossus that is located 23 kilometres from Paris has already written a carrier in pictures. After its debut in 1974, the Charles de Gaulle airport appeared also in a few Hollywood productions and its exteriors are displayed also in the video of the Irish rock band U2 - Beautiful Day.
Atatürk International Airport
The main international airport in the Turkish Istanbul is the third among the busiest airports in Europe. It is located on Istanbul´s European side and it was named after Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey, who, except others, has arranged that Ankara became the capital city of Turkey instead of Istanbul, that the country became a republic, that the Turkish men wore European hats and that the women followed western fashion trends and were given voting rights.
Frankfurt am Main Airport
Similarly to the international airport in Istanbul, the largest German airport Frankfurt am Main processes approximately 62,000,000 passengers annually. In the thirties of the last century it was a proud airships port, but after their inglorious end and after World War II an airport began to emerge here that belonged to the United States of America together with a military base. After its closing in 2005 the airport has undergone reconstruction in an extent that in 2010 it was able to welcome also the giant Airbus A380 that was part of the Lufthansa aircraft fleet. Lufthansa operates the First Class Terminal at the airport the clients of which are taken to the aircrafts by a luxury Mercedes-Benz strikingly reminiscent to our limousines.
Schiphol Airport
With nearly 60,000,000 processed passengers annually the international airport in Amsterdam is the fifth busiest airport in Europe. At the same time it is considered by the satisfied passengers to be the best airport and another 200 awards prove its qualities. Except others, Schiphol offers a meditation centre, spa or casino and even a number of attractive places for a wedding ceremony. You can say your most important "yes" in a hangar, on top of the building Skyport with a view on a busy runway or on the board of the Dakota aircraft from the thirties of the last century.
Barajas Airport
The Spanish Aeropuerto de Madrid-Barajas handles 47,000,000 passengers annually and it plays a key role when it comes to flights from Latin Amerika to Europe. The beginnings of the airport date back to 1931 literally on a green field – the grass surface of the runways changed only in the forties of the last century.
Munich Airport
Gone are the days when the Franz Josef Strauß international airport in Munich did not meet the needs of transport regarding its size. In 2015 it processed nearly 41,000,000 passengers and it collected a number of prestigious awards not only from the passengers but also from professionals. It got a coveted award of a “5-Star Airport“ from the respected London-based aviation research institute Skytrax what is considered to be a kind of Oscar in the field of air transport.
Fiumicino - Aeroporto Internazionale Leonardo da Vinci
Also Italy has its representative in the ranking of the busiest European airports. It is located close to Rome in the town of Fiumicino. Officially it started its operation in 1961 and thanks to more than 40,000,000 processed passengers annually it deserves the eighth rank among the top ten busiest European airports. The altitude of 5 metres of this airport is definitely worth noting.
Gatwick Airport
London has another representative in this ranking. London Gatwick Airport is located 40 kilometres from the British metropole and despite its emerge in the twenties of the last century it recorded the first commercial flight only on 17 May, 1936. At that time you could fly to Paris for 4 pounds and 5 shillings, what corresponds to approx. 160 pounds today. The oldest written record about the name Gatwick dates back to 1241 in the form Gatwik. It was the connection of two old English words gat (goat) and wik (farm). The goat farm handles more than 40,000,000 passengers annually.
Barcelona El Prat Airport
Spain also made it to push two representatives among the top ten busiest European airports. The other one is the Barcelona El Prat international airport with nearly 40,000,000 passengers handled annually. The origin of its name has to be searched for in the nearby town of El Prat de Llobregat. And it also makes sense to know all the names used so that you do not succumb the impression that Barcelona has more international airports. You can meet with the following names: Aeroport de Barcelona-El Prat, Aeroport de Barcelona, Aeropuerto de Barcelona or simply Aeroport. However, it is always the same place.
