The Airports Council International, founded in 1991, has published the top 10 busiest airports in the world in 2021. The latest rating contains data on passenger traffic, cargo traffic and the number of take-offs and landings.
The total number of passengers worldwide in 2021 is close to 4.5 billion, which is almost 25% more than in 2020 , but more than 50% less than in 2019.
Passenger traffic at the top 10 busiest airports, which together account for almost 10% of global passenger traffic — 463 million passengers, an increase of 51.8% compared to 2020, although lagging behind 2019 by 29.1%.
Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport — ATL, 75.7 million passengers, +76.4% — returned to the top of the 2021 rankings, followed by Dallas Fort Worth International Airport — DFW, 62.5 million passengers, +58.7% — and Denver International Airport — DEN, 58.8 million passengers, +74.4%.
Interestingly, the previous leader — Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport — CAN, 40.3 million passengers, -8.0%, which was at the top of the rankings in 2020, has fallen to eighth position.
Thus, eight of the 10 largest airports by passenger traffic are in the United States, and the two remaining — in China. European “monsters” and Dubai this time were outside the top ten.
Reason — all 10 major airports account for a significant proportion of domestic traffic — segment that is leading the industry's global recovery. The largest increase in this indicator was recorded at Orlando International Airport — MCO, 40.4 million passengers, +86.7%, which has risen from 27th position in 2020 to seventh place in 2021.
In terms of international passenger traffic, the leader of last year was expectedly International Dubai Airport, where EXPO 2020 was held. In total, 29 & nbsp; 110 & nbsp; 609 passengers were served here in 2021, which is 12.7% more than a year earlier, but 66.3% falls short of normal 2019.
In second place — Istanbul Airport, on the third — Amsterdam. Interestingly, the largest increase in passenger traffic from other countries was noted in Turkish Antalya — plus 160.4% and getting into the top 10 (8th place). A year earlier, Antalya was not even in the top thirty (36th place).
But London Heathrow, which occupied the third place in the ranking in 2020, became only seventh according to the results of last year.