Number of Terminals at European Airports

"Which terminal, Sir, Madam?" A frequently asked question to travellers arriving (by taxi) at the airport.

Interestingly, 75% of the 250 busiest airports in Europe have only one terminal.

Our airport database (source of Ancillary Revenue Booster by AirMundo) provides us with lots of interesting information, for example the number of terminals at airports around the world. If you only look at European airports, you will see 187 out of the 250 biggest airports in Europe have just one terminal (75%), and 49 airports have two terminals (20%). Generally speaking, airports with two terminals name them T1 and T2 (29 out 49, 59% of total).

In Europe, there are only 14 airports with more than two terminals, namely Madrid Barajas Airport (5: T1, T2, T3, T4 and T4S), Hanover Airport (4), London Heathrow Airport (4), Stuttgart Airport (4), Vienna Airport (4), Katowice Airport (3), Düsseldorf Airport (3), Stockholm Arlanda Airport (3), Zurich Airport (3), Antalya Airport (3), Manchester Airport (3), Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (3), Munich Airport (3) and Bordeaux Airport (3).

The more passengers, the more terminals?

In 2023, 27 airports in Europe handled more than 20 million passengers. Last year, London Heathrow Airport (number 1, 79.2 million) was the busiest airport in Europe, followed by Istanbul Airport (number 2, 76.2 million), Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (3, 67.4 million), Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (4. 61.9 million), Madrid Barajas Airport (5, 60.2 million) and Frankfurt Airport (6, 59.4 million).

One might expect more than one terminal at Europe's busiest airports, but this is not entirely the case. In fact, 33.3% (9 out of 27) of these big airports have just one terminal: Istanbul, Amsterdam Schiphol, Istanbul Sabiha G?kcen, Paris Orly, Palma de Mallorca, Athens, London Stansted, Oslo and Brussels.

Istanbul Airport in Turkey is the biggest single-terminal airport in Europe and the world in terms of passenger traffic. *In terms of size, Guangzhou Baiyun Airport in Chinas has the world's largest single-building airport terminal as the East 4 and West 4 corridors were put into operation on December 31, 2023.

Needless to say, you could argue about a couple of things, for instance would you count a satellite terminal without road access as a terminal? And do airports like Düsseldorf (A / B / C) and Paris Orly (1 / 2 / 3 / 4) have one terminal divided into several zones, or more than one terminal? And what to think about Leipzig Halle Airport (see picture below), one terminal or two terminals (Central Terminal and TB)?

Fun facts

• In 2006, Marseille Airport opened as the first airport in Europe a terminal dedicated to low-cost flights: MP2 (Marseille Provence 2).
• Some airports in Europe have a terminal reserved for low-cost carriers too, Bordeaux Airport (Billi) and Lisbon Airport (Terminal 2) among others.
• CPH Go (F gates) is a dedicated low cost pier (not a terminal) at Copenhagen Airport currently operated by easyJet, Ryanair, Wizz Air and Transavia.
• At Amsterdam Airport Schiphol there is a dedicated low cost pier (H/M gates) used by easyJet and Ryanair, consisting of a non-Schengen part (H) and a Schengen part (M).
• Terminal 4 at Madrid Barajas Airport is both beautiful and controversial. If your flight departs from Terminal 4 Satellite (T4S, M and S gates) it will take you about 60 minutes to walk from curb to gate, even though there is an automated people mover available between T4 and T4S.

What do you think is the best/worst airport terminal in Europe?

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Source of header image: official website Bordeaux Airport