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Airports Council International keeps tabs on passenger traffic and ranks the busiest airports around the globe. While the number one spot is pretty much cemented in for the past 20 years, some of the other spots in the top 10 were surprising.
CNN reports that Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) remains the world’s busiest airport (as it has every year except 2020) for the past two decades. The airport is expected to return to pre-pandemic levels this year with around 110 million passengers served. In 2023, it served 104.7 million passengers, which was up 11.7% from 2022.
Dubai International Airport (DXB) made the jump from five to secure the number two spot last year. Last year, 87 million passengers passed through, which is up 31.7% from 2022. Luis Felipe de Oliveira, Airports Council International World’s Director General, said:
Dubai served around 87 million passengers in 2023. That is a year-to-year increase of 31%, and that is 1% higher than 2019. And they connected 262 destinations around 104 countries to 102 international carriers.”
Rounding out the top 10 are the following airports:
- Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) (3rd with 81.8 million passengers; up 11.4% from 2022)
- London Heathrow Airport (LHR) (4th with 79.2 million passengers; up 28.5% from 2022)
- Tokyo Haneda Airport (5th with 78.7 million passengers; up 55.1% from 2022)
- Denver International Airport (DEN) (6th with 77.8 million passengers; up 12.3% from 2022)
- Istanbul Airport (IST) (7th with 76 million passengers; up 18.3% from 2022)
- Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) (8th with 75.1 million passengers; up 13.8% from 2022)
- Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) (9th with 73.9 million passengers; up 8.1% from 2022)
- Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) (10th with 72.2 million passengers; up 21.4% from 2022)
The 2023 number of total passengers globally is around 8.5 billion according to ACI’s preliminary estimates. If you’ve been traveling lately, it feels like that number has been packed into some of the airports I’ve visited.
Anthony’s Take: Atlanta remains the firm number one when it comes to passenger volume. I thought Chicago was hire, but still a respectable 9th place.
(Image Credits: Brad Huchteman and Rob Wilson.)
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