What Are the World’s Busiest Airports?

Have you ever wondered what the world’s busiest airports are? It is fascinating to look at the number of people coming and going into different parts of the world every single day as this reflects a lot about the world and where people go either for business or pleasure. There are a few obvious places which are always incredibly busy as well as a few airports which might surprise you just how much traffic they have coming through.

Atlanta, Georgia (ATL)

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport has been the busiest passenger airport in the world each year since 1997 which is an incredible statistic. Over 107 million passengers flew through the airport last year which saw a 3.3% increase in passenger traffic (this is to be expected with a 6.4% increase globally). The reason that Atlanta has been top of the pile for 17 years in a row is the fact that it is a major connecting hub, a port of entry for the USA and it is within a two-hour flight of 80% of the US’s 300 million+ population.

Beijing, China (PEK)

Beijing retains its place as the second busiest passenger airport with an increase of over 5% with just shy of 101 million passengers passing through in 2018.

Dubai (DBX)

Unsurprisingly, Dubai international airport continues to grow as an airport and is in third place with 90 million passengers in 2018 with a 1% rise on last year. If you only count international passengers, Dubai International Airport would be top of the table closely followed by Heathrow.

Los Angeles (LAX)

LAX has improved once place since 2017 with a rise of 3.5% taking it to 87.5 million for the year. It is the “Gateway to the Pacific Rim” which ensures that it is and will always be one of the busiest airports in the world with a high number of airport transfers going in different directions.

Tokyo (HND)

Tokyo dropped one place below L.A despite a 2% rise in passengers to 87 million in 2018. The Greater Tokyo Area has been named the most populous metropolitan area in the world so it is easy to see why it is always so busy.

Chicago (ORD)

O’Hare International Airport served 79.8 million passengers in 2018 which was a sharp 4.4 increase compared to the year before. It is currently going through a modernisation programme which ensures that it is well-equipped to support further increase in the coming years.

These are the top 6 busiest airports in the world. It is interesting to see how there has been a sharp increase in traffic globally in air travel but the rankings have not changed much. The fastest-growing airport was Banglore, India which saw a staggering 29% increase last year but it still sits outside the top 20.