Moscow airports top European traffic in pandemic-hit first half

Moscow Domodedovo was Europe’s busiest airport for passenger numbers during June, a month in which the impact of the global pandemic was further illustrated by London Heathrow falling outside the top 10 biggest hubs. Figures released by ACI Europe for June show Moscow Domodedovo airport handled 716,800 passengers for the month - down 73% on the same month in 2019. Another Moscow airport, Sheremetyevo, was the third busiest European airport in June with 622,800 passengers. That marked an 87% reduction on June 2019. Neither Russian airport featured among the five biggest European airports in 2019. Heathrow, the biggest European airport last year, ranked as only the 11th busiest in June 2020 in handling 350,000 passengers. That compares with over 7 million passengers for the same month in 2019. The sharp fall in volumes at Heathrow was evident elsewhere among UK airports where travel restrictions remained in place in June. Notably London Gatwick, the 10th biggest airport in June 2019, slipped to the 92nd busiest in June 2020.<br/>