In 2024, global air travel hit 9.5 billion passengers— a five billion increase since 2021.
This article was written by Dorothy Neufeld and originally published by Visual Capitalist.
Together, the 10 busiest airports transported 855 million passengers, or 9% of traffic globally. While air traffic has finally surged past pre-pandemic levels, it is not without its challenges of staffing crises, tech outages, and aircraft incidents.
This graphic shows the busiest airports in the world, based on data from the Airports Council International.
The Top 10 Busiest Airports in the World in 2024
Below, we show the airports with the highest number of passengers globally as air travel increased 9% over the year:
| Rank | Airport | Country | Airport Code | Number of Passengers in 2024 |
Annual Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Atlanta | 🇺🇸 U.S. | ATL | 108M | 3% |
| 2 | Dubai | 🇦🇪 UAE | DXB | 92M | 6% |
| 3 | Dallas/Fort Worth | 🇺🇸 U.S. | DFW | 88M | 7% |
| 4 | Tokyo | 🇯🇵 Japan | HND | 86M | 9% |
| 5 | London | 🇬🇧 UK | LHR | 84M | 6% |
| 6 | Denver | 🇺🇸 U.S. | DEN | 83M | 6% |
| 7 | Istanbul | 🇹🇷 Turkiye | IST | 80M | 5% |
| 8 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 U.S. | ORD | 80M | 8% |
| 9 | New Delhi | 🇮🇳 India | DEL | 78M | 8% |
| 10 | Shanghai | 🇨🇳 China | PVG | 77M | 41% |
Represents total passengers enplaned and deplaned, with passengers in transit counted once.
As we can see, four of the top 10 busiest airports in the world are in the U.S.—led by the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
Notably, Atlanta serves as a connecting hub to domestic and international travelers, owing to its position between North America, Europe, and Latin America. Adding to this, it has 150 non-stop destinations in six continents.
Ranking in second is the Dubai International Airport, with a record 92 million passengers in 2024. Overall, 106 international airlines fly into this hub, reflecting Dubai’s growing prominence as a center for business and investment.
Meanwhile, Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport saw the largest rise in the rankings, up from 21st in 2023 to 10th overall. Driving its 41% surge in passengers was the resumption of international flights and visa policy expansion.
