Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport hung on to the “world’s busiest airport” title by a slim margin over Beijing’s Capital Airport, with each handling over 100,000,000 passengers last year. Lot of zeroes!
Atlanta had just over 107 million, with 101 million for Beijing, but Beijing’s total is growing faster than Atlanta’s, so there may be a change coming. No other airport in the top 20 came near the two champions, although quite a few had faster growth rates. New Delhi, with a more than 10% increase led that figure.
Here’s the list as reported by Airports Council International:
- Atlanta (ATL)
107.4 million, up 3.3% 2017 rank: 1 - Beijing (PEK)
101 million, up 5.4% 2017 rank: 2 - Dubai, United Arab Emirates (DXB)
89.1 million, up 1% 2017 rank: 3 - Los Angeles (LAX)
87.5 million, up 3.5% 2017 rank: 5 - Tokyo Haneda (HND)
86.9 million, up 4.4% 2017 rank: 4 - Chicago O’Hare (ORD)
83.2 million, up 4.3% 2017 rank: 6 - London Heathrow (LHR)
80.1 million, up 2.7% 2017 rank: 7 - Hong Kong (HKG)
74.5 million, up 2.6% 2017 rank: 8 - Shanghai (PVG)
74 million, up 5.7% 2017 rank: 9 - Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG)
72.2 million, up 4% 2017 rank: 10 - Amsterdam (AMS)
71.1 million, up 3.7% 2017 rank: 11 - New Delhi (DEL)
69.9 million, up 10.2% 2017 rank: 16 - Guangzhou, China (CAN)
69.7 million, up 5.9% 2017 rank: 13 - Frankfurt, Germany (FRA)
69.5 million, up 7.8% 2017 rank: 14 - Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW)
69.1 million, up 3% 2017 rank: 12 - Istanbul, Turkey (IST)
68.36 million, up 6.6% 2017 rank: 15 - Seoul Incheon, South Korea (ICN)
68.35 million, up 10% 2017 rank: 19 - Jakarta, Indonesia (CGK)
65.7 million, up 4.2% 2017 rank: 17 - Singapore (SIN)
65.6 million, up 5.5% 2017 rank: 18 - Denver (DEN)
64.5 million, up 5.1% 2017 rank: 20
I’d be interested to know how they count “passengers.” For instance, I’m guessing all those people are not visiting Atlanta but many connecting. So are they counted twice, once arriving, then again leaving?
You’ll probably have noted that nearly all the biggest airports on the list are major hubs with many transfer passengers, and they are indeed counted on the way in and on the way out. Because they are similarly situated, it doesn’t really make much difference (nor, really, does airport size. It’s the equivalent of today’s entertainment scene, where the winning movies are not the best but the ones with the largest box office). As well, a passenger whose destination actually is Atlanta would also be counted twice, once on arrival and once on the way home.