The World’s 10 Busiest Airports: U.S. Still on Top, Asia Climbs Fast

Updated: April 15, 2025, 6:47pm CDT

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The Top 10 Busiest Airports by Passenger Numbers
Final Thoughts

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The trade association of the world’s biggest airports has released the rankings of the world’s 10 biggest airports by passenger numbers. The top of the rankings shows the usual suspects, with the U.S. taking first and third place. But there are some big, surprising numbers coming out of Asia.

Let’s have a look at who’s on top among the biggest airports in the world.

The Top 10 Busiest Airports by Passenger Numbers

Airports Council International, the Montreal-based trade group linking almost 2,200 airports worldwide, published a preview of its rankings of the world’s busiest airports for 2024.

Preliminary figures for 2024 indicate that recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is complete. Global passenger numbers were up 9% from the previous year and 3.3% from 2019, the last full year of normal traffic before the pandemic. Almost 9.5 billion people took flights in 2024.

The podium at the top of the rankings is unchanged. Atlanta (ATL), Dubai (DXB), and Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) kept their number 1, 2, and 3 spots. They are, respectively, the main hubs for Delta Air Lines, Emirates, and American Airlines.

The biggest surprise in the top 10 rankings is a spectacular 11-place jump by Shanghai-Pudong (PVG), which was just number 21 in 2023 but ranked 10th last year with a 41% increase in passenger numbers. Airports Council International cites, among reasons for this growth, expanded visa policies, more international flights after pandemic restrictions were lifted, and the recovery of the Asia-Pacific region, particularly China itself.

The top 10 busiest airports taken collectively represent 9% of global traffic and gained 8.8% more passengers when compared to 2023.

The rankings table below shows the total number of passengers embarking and disembarking. Transit passengers are counted only once.

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2024	2023	Airport and country	2024 Passengers	% Change
1	1	Atlanta (ATL), U.S.	108,067,766	+3.3%
2	2	Dubai (DXB), UAE	92,331,506	+6.1%
3	3	Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), U.S.	87,817,864	+7.4%
4	5	Tokyo-Haneda (HND), Japan	85,900,617	+9.1%
5	4	London-Heathrow (LHR), U.K.	83,884,572	+5.9%
6	6	Denver (DEN), U.S.	82,358,744	+5.8%
7	7	Istanbul (IST), Türkiye	80,073,252	+5.3%
8	9	Chicago-O’Hare (ORD), U.S.	80,043,050	+8.3%
9	10	Delhi (DEL), India	77,820,834	+7.8%
10	21	Shanghai-Pudong (PVG), China	76,787,039	+41%

When looking at international passengers only, the U.S. disappears, and a European/Asian domination takes over, as it has for many years now.

The top 5 airports are all in relatively small nations, with limited or no domestic air traffic, and often have a dominant airline with a vast global network, like Emirates in Dubai (DXB), Singapore Airlines in Singapore (SIN), or KLM in Amsterdam (AMS).

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2024	2023	Airport and country	2024 International Passengers	% Change
1	1	Dubai (DXB), UAE	92,331,506	+6.1%
2	2	London-Heathrow (LHR), U.K.	79,194,330	+5.7%
3	7	Seoul-Incheon (ICN), South Korea	70,699,246	+26.7%
4	5	Singapore (SIN)	67,063,000	+14.8%
5	3	Amsterdam (AMS), Netherlands	66,822,849	+8%
6	4	Paris-Charles De Gaulle (CDG), France	64,469,356	+5%
7	6	Istanbul (IST), Türkiye	62,975,429	+8.1%
8	8	Frankfurt (FRA), Germany	56,185,219	+3.9%
9	12	Hong Kong (HKG), China	52,949,047	+34.4%
10	9	Doha (DOH), Qatar	52,714,976	+14.8%

Growth has been strong in Asia even when looking at international passengers. In the top 10, all the airports that posted double-digit growth have been in Asia, again with China showing the biggest jump. Hong Kong (HKG) vaulted 3 places to number 9, with a 34.4% boom in international passengers.

Bottom Line:

According to Airports Council International, air traffic has grown at a healthy pace in 2024, with China showing an especially strong recovery after the lingering effects of the 2020 pandemic. The group notes, however, that there are threats to growth, particularly tariffs provoking “concerns about potential disruptions to global trade.”

Final Thoughts

Atlanta has nothing to fear — at the moment — regarding its position atop the global ranking of biggest airports. The U.S. hub handled 108 million passengers in 2024, 16 million more than runner-up Dubai. But Dubai grew last year at double the pace of Atlanta, and in about a decade, a giant new airport being built in the Emirati city could post even bigger numbers.