Türkiye's second-largest airport became Europe's fastest-growing aviation hub in the first half of 2026, according to a European airport trade body on Thursday.

Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport increased its passenger traffic by 6.4% year-over-year in the January-June period, a report by the ACI Europe said.

That marked the highest growth rate in the "Majors" category, which includes European hubs handling more than 40 million passengers.

ACI Europe said passenger traffic at European airports rose 2.6% in the first half of the year compared with the same period a year earlier.

The traffic growth slowed from 4.3% in the first quarter to 1.3% in the second quarter. Domestic passenger traffic increased 3%, while international passenger traffic rose 2.5%.

According to the report, passenger traffic at airports across Türkiye increased 2.8% in the first six months of the year.

Growth at Sabiha Gökçen, located on Istanbul's Asian side, exceeded both the European and national averages.

The report said Barcelona Airport ranked second in the "Majors" category with 4.4% growth, followed by Madrid Airport with 4.2%, Istanbul Airport with 1.6% and Rome Fiumicino Airport with 0.3%.

London Heathrow remained the busiest European airport, welcoming a record 40 million passengers in the first half of the year, a 0.2% year-over-year increase.

The British hub kept being closely followed by Istanbul Airport, which increased its passenger count by 1.6% to 39.84 million.