Primary sources · 4
- [1] ACI World — Top 10 busiest airports 2023 — Authoritative ranking of passenger traffic, released April 2024 · Airports Council International World · April 2024 https://aci.aero/2024/04/14/top-10-busiest-airports-in-the-world-shift-with-the-rise-of-international-air-travel-demand/
- [2] ACI World — Top 20 confirmed — Final top-20 ranking with passenger numbers and YoY change · Airports Council International World · July 2024 https://aci.aero/2024/07/16/top-20-busiest-airports-in-the-world-confirmed-by-aci-world/
- [3] ACI — Global aviation recovery context — 2023 global passenger total of 8.7 billion, 94.3 % of 2019 · Airports Council International · 2024 https://aci.aero
- [4] OpenFlights airport database — Coordinates and IATA codes used here · openflights.org · Community-maintained https://openflights.org/data.php
ACI World tracks passenger traffic at every commercial airport on Earth. The 2023 numbers, released in 2024, returned to roughly 94 % of the 2019 pre-pandemic peak — the top of the list has reshuffled in ways that say more about geopolitics and post-COVID travel patterns than about underlying airport capacity.
ACI World top ten, 2023
| Rank | Airport | Code | Country | Passengers (M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International | ATL | United States | 104.6 |
| 2 | Dubai International | DXB | UAE | 86.9 |
| 3 | Dallas/Fort Worth International | DFW | United States | 81.8 |
| 4 | Tokyo Haneda | HND | Japan | 78.7 |
| 5 | London Heathrow | LHR | United Kingdom | 79.2 |
| 6 | Denver International | DEN | United States | 77.8 |
| 7 | Istanbul Airport | IST | Türkiye | 76.0 |
| 8 | Los Angeles International | LAX | United States | 75.0 |
| 9 | Chicago O'Hare | ORD | United States | 73.9 |
| 10 | Delhi Indira Gandhi | DEL | India | 72.2 |
2024 update — released April 2025
ACI World published the 2024 passenger-traffic figures in April 2025. Atlanta extended its lead — 108.07 million passengers in 2024, a 3.3 % increase on 2023, comfortably ahead of Dubai's 92.33 million. Total global passenger traffic across all airports reached approximately 9.5 billion, fully past the pre-COVID peak.
| Rank | Airport | Code | 2024 passengers (M) | Change vs 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta | ATL | 108.07 | +3.3 % |
| 2 | Dubai International | DXB | 92.33 | +6.2 % |
| 3 | Dallas/Fort Worth | DFW | 87.8 | +7.4 % |
| 4 | Tokyo Haneda | HND | 85.9 | +9.1 % |
| 5 | London Heathrow | LHR | 83.8 | +5.8 % |
| 6 | Denver International | DEN | 82.4 | +5.9 % |
| 7 | Istanbul Airport | IST | 80.1 | +5.4 % |
| 8 | Chicago O'Hare | ORD | 80.0 | +8.3 % |
| 9 | Los Angeles International | LAX | 76.8 | +2.4 % |
| 10 | Shanghai Pudong | PVG | 76.8 | Jumped from 21st |
The headline 2024 movement is Shanghai Pudong's leap from 21st (2023) to 10th (2024) on the back of China's accelerated international reopening — 2024 was the first year since 2019 that Chinese outbound and inbound traffic ran at typical seasonal patterns. Dubai remains the largest international gateway (Atlanta is largely domestic US connecting traffic).
Atlanta has been #1 for most of the last 25 years
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta has held the world-busiest title in every year except 2020 since 1998. Two structural reasons sustain that dominance: Delta Air Lines' largest hub operation runs through Atlanta, and Atlanta is within a 2-hour flight of 80 % of the US population, so its connecting-passenger throughput is exceptional. The airport processes roughly 296,000 passengers per day under the 2024 numbers — the equivalent of moving the population of Reading or Pittsburgh through one facility every 24 hours.
| Period | Title-holder | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 – 2019 | Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson | Held title every year except briefly displaced by Beijing PEK in some international-only sub-rankings |
| 2020 | Guangzhou Baiyun (CAN) | Only year Atlanta lost the title; COVID effectively shut US air travel while domestic-China traffic continued |
| 2021 – 2024 | Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson | Reclaimed and extended the title; 2024 figure (108 M) is the highest annual total for any airport in history |
What 2023 said about the post-COVID world
Two patterns stand out. Asia-Pacific recovered fastest: Tokyo Haneda leapt from 16th in 2022 to 5th in 2023 as Japan reopened to international tourism. The Middle East kept climbing: Dubai's 86.9 million is now decisively #2 in the world and remains the largest hub for international (versus domestic) travel by any measure. US airports fill five of the top ten — a function of the unmatched US domestic market — but their share of global traffic continues to fall.
| Airport | 2022 rank | 2023 rank | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tokyo Haneda (HND) | 16 | 4 | +12 |
| Delhi (DEL) | 9 | 10 | −1 |
| Istanbul (IST) | 5 | 7 | −2 |
| Beijing Capital (PEK) | — | — | Below top 10 |
| Pre-COVID #1 Beijing PEK | — | — | Domestic-driven, not in 2023 top 10 |
Hub structure vs origin-destination
Atlanta's 108-million-passenger total includes a large connecting share — people who fly into ATL only to change planes and fly out. Dubai's 92 million is almost entirely international, with a high origin-destination share. The two airports lead by different metrics: ATL by total throughput, DXB by international throughput, and LHR by sustained slot-constrained capacity at the top of the European hierarchy.
| Rank | Airport | International passengers (M) | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dubai International (DXB) | ≈ 92.3 (almost entirely international) | Sixth Freedom hub; UAE has limited domestic market |
| 2 | London Heathrow (LHR) | ≈ 75 | Slot-constrained gateway for Europe ↔ Atlantic, Europe ↔ Asia traffic |
| 3 | Hong Kong International (HKG) | ≈ 53 | Recovered to roughly 90 % of pre-COVID international levels in 2024 |
Cargo airports — a separate ranking
Cargo throughput follows a completely different distribution. Three airports dominate by tonnage and they are not in the passenger top ten: Hong Kong International (HKG), Memphis (MEM, FedEx's super-hub), and Shanghai Pudong (PVG, which appears in both rankings).
| Rank | Airport | Tonnes (M) | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hong Kong International (HKG) | 4.33 | Long-time global cargo leader; close to Pearl River Delta manufacturing |
| 2 | Memphis (MEM) | 3.95 | FedEx Express super-hub; one of the largest single-operator hubs in the world |
| 3 | Shanghai Pudong (PVG) | 3.45 | China's largest international cargo gateway |
| 4 | Anchorage (ANC) | 3.20 | Strategic Asia ↔ North America transit point for cargo aircraft requiring tech stops |
| 5 | Seoul Incheon (ICN) | 2.79 | Korean Air Cargo and Asiana Cargo hub |
Regional analysis
The top-ten distribution shifts by region. The Americas (North America + Latin America) hold five of the ten passenger slots; EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) hold three; APAC (Asia-Pacific) hold two, up from one in 2023. The 2024 jump for Shanghai Pudong is the most visible APAC recovery indicator since the COVID era.
| Region | Top-10 airports | Share of top-10 traffic |
|---|---|---|
| North America | ATL, DFW, DEN, ORD, LAX (5) | ≈ 47 % |
| EMEA | DXB, LHR, IST (3) | ≈ 30 % |
| APAC | HND, PVG (2) | ≈ 19 % |
| Other | — | ≈ 0 % |