The 10 Busiest Airports in the World

Every airport feels like the world’s busiest airport when you’re dodging fellow travelers left and right on the way to your flight gate.

But if you happen to be in Atlanta, you actually are in the world’s busiest airport—at least in terms of its total passenger count. According to a recent report by Airports Council International (ACI), nearly 93.7 million people got on and off planes at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in 2022, putting it a good 20 million passengers ahead of runner-up Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

Five of the top 10 airports are located in the U.S.: Denver International and Chicago O’Hare International took third and fourth place, respectively, and Los Angeles International came in sixth. As CNN explains, this is largely because domestic air travel has recovered from the pandemic slump much faster than international air travel. Between 75 and 95 percent of all traffic at those five airports is domestic.

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(On the list of busiest airports based only on international traffic, meanwhile, America is completely absent. Dubai International Airport came in first, followed by London Heathrow Airport, both of which also charted in the overall top 10.)

Passenger traffic for all but one of the airports (Denver) is still down compared to pre-pandemic levels, but it’s definitely bouncing back. All 10 airports have enjoyed significant increases in the past year—especially London, whose 2022 traffic is a whopping 217.7 percent over 2021’s.

See which other airports made the top 10 below, and explore other takeaways from ACI’s report here.

A version of this story ran in 2022; it has been updated for 2023.