The World’s 10 Busiest Airports Have Just Been Announced - It Seems That Air Traffic Is Back

You know, I have some good news for you. No, it's really good news, which is especially important in this crazy and constantly changing world of today. In recent years, when talking about global tourism, we have invariably mentioned that the volume of passenger traffic around the world hasn't yet reached pre-pandemic levels. But now, the wait is officially over!

Indeed, the volume of passenger traffic by the end of 2024 exceeded the pre-COVID 2019 figures for the first time - albeit by a quite humble 3.8%. According to the Airports Council International's (ACI) annual figures, global passenger traffic has finally recovered and is gaining momentum. And ACI data also gives Atlanta residents another reason to be proud of their city.

More info: ACI

In the 21st century, the combination of the words "Atlanta" and "competition" gave locals more reasons to be sad - the victory in the 2021 baseball World Series and Super Bowl XXXIII, which is probably better not to remember at all. However, Atlanta definitely dominates in the annual rankings of the world's busiest airports by ACI.

Since 1998, when these rankings began to be calculated, Atlanta, or more precisely, Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport, has only once failed to take first place. Of course, that was 2020, when pandemic restrictions brought down the flow of passengers so much that Atlanta lost its lead to China's Guangzhou. But the following year, the Georgia capital returned to its usual top spot.

How is this ranking actually calculated? Well, very simple - it's defined as passengers enplaned plus passengers deplaned plus direct-transit passengers. As a result, Atlanta's advantageous position at the very intersection of many North American air routes, as well as its status as a hub for Delta Airlines, regularly brings Hartsfield–Jackson to the very top.

ACI calculates the Top 50 of the busiest airports, and Atlanta is the only airport that has exceeded the 100M passenger mark (108M in 2024). There are three other American airports in the top ten: Dallas Fort Worth International Airport is third, Denver International Airport is sixth, and O'Hare International Airport (Chicago) sits seventh.

Overall, the Top 10 airports in the world by the end of 2024 are as follows:

1. Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport (Atlanta, USA) - 108M passengers
2. Dubai International Airport (Dubai, UAE) - 92.3
3. Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (Dallas–Fort Worth, USA) - 87.8
4. Tokyo Haneda Airport (Tokyo, Japan) - 85.0
5. Heathrow Airport (London, UK) - 83.9
6. Denver International Airport (Denver, USA) - 82.4
7. O'Hare International Airport (Chicago, USA) - 80.0
8. Istanbul Airport (Istanbul, Turkey) - 79.9
9. Indira Gandhi International Airport (New Delhi, India) - 77.8
10. Shanghai Pudong International Airport (Shanghai, China) - 76.8

If we consider the entire Top 50, the United States holds the lead with 15 airports (last year, however, there were 16). In second place is China with 11 (10 in 2023), while India and Spain have 2 respectively. All other countries present in the Top 50 have only one airport in the list, even if it's as huge as London Heathrow.

However, ASI also calculates passenger traffic statistics by city, and London is already beyond competition. Six airports of the British capital bring it a confident lead, ahead of New York (5 airports) and Istanbul (2 airports). The only city in the Top 10 there represented by only one airport is, as you probably already guessed, Atlanta...

By the way, another interesting data—if you take the Top 10 airports in the world by international passengers, there won't be a single American airport here. Dubai is in first place with 92.3M passengers, followed by London (Heathrow) with 79.1M and South Korean Incheon with 70.7 M. As we can see, these are mainly transit airports, which are actually confirmed by the fourth and fifth places: Singapore and Amsterdam, respectively.

Among cargo transportation, three American airports are in the top five, and the cities represented here are completely different. Memphis, Anchorage, and Louisville, respectively, are in third, fourth, and fifth places. The leadership, and the undisputed one, here belongs to China - Hong Kong and Shanghai occupy the first and the second places.

Well, if you are interested in development forecasts, then ACI estimates the prospects for growth in passenger transportation in 2025 to 9.9B passengers, which means a 4.8% year-over-year growth rate. At the same time, as the official ACI website notes, "while passenger demand remains strong, the pace of expansion is expected to slow as markets shift from recovery-driven surges to structural, long-term growth patterns."

Given the era of economic turbulence that the world has entered this decade, we don't know for sure whether these optimistic forecasts will come true. The only thing we can be sure of is that when the 2025 report comes out, Atlanta will be back atop—at least, unless the rivals hire Bill Belichick and Tom Brady to let them blow the lead again.