South Korea’s Incheon International Airport has become the world’s busiest airport by international passenger traffic for the first time, according to preliminary data from the Airports Council International. Incheon handled 38.4 million international passengers in the first six months of the year, surpassing London’s Heathrow, which recorded 37.79 million, and Singapore’s Changi, which handled 34.53 million.
The airport attributed part of its rise to passengers shifting away from Middle Eastern aviation hubs amid the ongoing conflict between the United States and Iran. Transfer passengers at Incheon rose 18% year-on-year, while those bound for Europe increased sharply by 63.2%, reaching 210,000. Some travellers who previously transited through Dubai en route to Europe are now routing through Incheon instead, according to the airport corporation, contributing to the overall rise in transfer traffic.
Dubai International Airport, which ranked second in both 2024 and 2025 based on full-year statistics, is expected to fall outside the top five this time. Meanwhile, London’s Heathrow, which ranked fifth in 2024 and seventh in 2025, has now been overtaken by Incheon, which previously ranked 12th and 13th in those same years respectively.
The Incheon airport corporation also noted that ongoing infrastructure expansion has enabled the airport to manage a significantly larger traffic load. Incheon, which opened in 2001, currently serves 158 international destinations—more than Hong Kong International Airport’s 139, Shanghai Pudong’s 92, and Tokyo Narita’s 86.
Acting President of the Incheon airport corporation, Kim Beom-ho, expressed gratitude to the South Korean government, the public and airport staff for helping Incheon achieve its position as the world’s number one airport. He added that the corporation plans to further strengthen its competitiveness going forward by focusing on improving passenger convenience.