Airports Council International (ACI) World has published its latest World Airport Traffic Dataset.
The report confirms the top 20 busiest airports in the world and reveals airport passenger rankings for more than 2,600 airports across more than 180 countries and territories.
World's busiest airports 2022
(Source: ACI World)
1. Atlanta
2. Dallas/Fort Worth
3. Denver
4. Chicago
5. Dubai
6. Los Angeles
7. Istanbul
8. London Heathrow
9. New Delhi
10. Paris Charles de Gaulle
11. New York JFK
12. Las Vegas
13. Amsterdam Schiphol
14. Miami
15. Madrid
16. Tokyo
17. Orlando
18. Frankfurt
19. Charlotte
20. Mexico City
Key findings confirm the return of international traffic from the disruption of the last two years and the prevalence of US airports in the top 20 ranking.
The top 20 airports represent 18 per cent of global passenger traffic (around 1.2 billion passengers).
The data shows global passenger traffic surpassed 6.6 billion in 2022, which represents an increase of 43.8 per cent from 2021.
Taking the top spot for Europe, Istanbul Airport was ahead of London Heathrow as the 7th busiest airport in the world with 64,289,107 passengers in 2022. This was a 73.8 per cent change from the 36,988,067 passengers in 2021.
However, Heathrow has made the biggest leap in the top 20 rankings, jumping from 54th to 8th in one year. This can be attributed to when all travel restrictions were lifted by the UK Government in March 2021, after two years of impediment.
According to the ACI World data set, Heathrow saw 61,614,230 passengers last year compared with 19,395,287 in 2021.
Paris (10th), Amsterdam Schiphol (13th), Madrid (15th) and Frankfurt (18th) were the other European airports which featured in the top 20 busiest airports ranking, with passenger numbers for Paris increasing by 119.4 per cent, Schiphol by 105.8 per cent, Madrid by 109.8 per cent and Frankfurt by 97.2 per cent.
Globally, Atlanta
topped the chart with 93,699,630 passengers passing through in 2022. See sidebar for full top 20.
ACI World director general Luis Felipe de Oliveira said: “In the face of cost pressures and tight labour markets, the world’s airports continue to serve the public’s thirst to travel by air. Airports have once more proven their resiliency as reflected in the key findings from the ACI World Airport Traffic Dataset.”
ACI World collects airport traffic every year through its global network of airport operator members, investors, and aviation stakeholders. Passengers enplaned, deplaned, and in transit are counted once. The dataset allows users to filter results to regional, national by airport level and by traffic type.
Felipe de Oliveira added: “As always, reliable data remains fundamental to our advocacy and development of timely airport guidance. Airports and aviation stakeholders must continue to focus wholeheartedly on building a safe, secure, efficient, and environmentally sustainable air transport system, fit to welcome the doubling of passengers that will travel through our doors in the next two decades.”