UK: ‘Full’ Heathrow extends European hub lead as terror hurts rivals

London’s Heathrow, which has operated close to the capacity of its 2 runways since the start of the decade, eked out a further 700,000 passengers to extend its lead as Europe’s top travel hub in 2016 as growth in Paris stuttered and Istanbul and Frankfurt fell back. Heathrow’s traveller tally increased 1% to 75.7m, while aircraft movements gained just 0.2%, suggesting that a trend toward the use of bigger jets at the airport continued last year as airlines sought to deploy more seats per flight. Paris Charles de Gaulle remained in second spot with its passenger total rising 0.3% to 65.9m, hurt by a slump in demand for travel to France following a spate of terrorist attacks. Security concerns also saw numbers fall 2% at Istanbul Ataturk, which dropped from third to fifth, swapping places with Amsterdam Schiphol. <br/>