International passenger numbers at ICN grew by more than +6% in H1 2026.

South Korea’s Incheon Airport (ICN) topped the ranking for the world’s busiest international airports in the first half of 2026 as the previous leader, Dubai International (DXB) crashed to eighth place. Meanwhile, London Heathrow (LHR) was overtaken in July by Istanbul Airport (IST) as Europe’s busiest gateway.

According to H1 traffic data from analyst Air4casts, ICN has taken pole position by leapfrogging LHR, which has stayed in second place, due to its route exposure to the Middle East crisis, which was reactivated after a lull, in July. DXB’s freefall was predictable due to the fallout from the conflict that started on 28 February and shows how quickly geopolitical events can affect airport duty-free retailers and operators.

On the rejigged positions, Air4casts notes: “It is the first change at the top since the pandemic recovery settled, and it did not happen because of anything that took place in Seoul in the last six months. The Top 10 carried -2.4% fewer international passengers than in the first half of 2025. Remove Dubai and the other nine grew by +2.4%. That single substitution is the story of the first half.”

Wider scenarios are playing out. LHR, which one might have assumed would take the top spot, had been growing at +2.2% in January/February but dropped to +0.3% in March/April and -1.5% in May/June, according to the data. The deceleration began when Gulf airspace closures started, with LHR was impacted more than ICN.

The Gulf crisis has reshaped international traffic in H1 2026.

“Had Heathrow simply held its January/February growth rate across the first half it would have finished on 38.5m and kept first place by 0.14m. Seoul did not take first place from LHR so much as Heathrow’s Middle East exposure handed it over,” notes Air4casts.

Asian airports set the pace

Nevertheless, ICN did climb by an impressive +6.3%, taking the airport’s international passengers to 38.4m in H1, just enough to deny LHR the top spot. The London hub handled 37.8m international passengers, up +0.2%. ICN’s success has largely been due to a Korean inbound tourism boom, led by Chinese and Japanese visitors.

Air4casts’ H1 Top 10 also shows that the three existing Asia hubs on the list—ICN, Singapore Changi (SIN), and Hong Kong International (HKG)—all rose up the rankings while Bangkok Suvarnabhumi (BKK) jumped a place from 11th to 10th, year-on-year. BKK replaced Qatar’s Hamad International (DOH), which fell -34% and dropped out of the table.

HKG stood out as the only airport to see double-digit growth (+11.1%). Among other Asian hubs tracked by the analysts that grew strongly but are not in the Top 10 were Taipei Taoyuan (TPE) at +9.6% and Kuala Lumpur (KUL) at +6.6%.

Although DXB has suffered in H1, it is recovering every month. The airport fell from 7.4mn international passengers in February to 2.5m in March and had recovered to 4.7m by June. Air4casts says: “If Dubai continues to climb back at the June rate, the full year table will read differently again.”

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