20 busiest airports in the world

Written by:
April 9, 2018
Pixabay

20 busiest airports in the world

From world-class dining to seemingly endless moving walkways, the top airports of the world combine stunning amenities with organizational innovations designed to move millions of travellers—all while ideally minimizing the frustration of flying.

But some airports have a far bigger challenge, namely in terms of the sheer number of passengers aiming to fly in and out of their gates. To understand which airports handle the most travelers, Stacker looked to Airports Council International's 2018 edition of the World Airport Traffic Report, released Sept. 20, 2018. Comparing data from more than 2,500 airports in over 175 countries, the release ranks airports by arriving and departing passengers, providing a look at which airports dominated in terms of total travelers for last year.

Read on to explore which airports took the top spots for traffic, including five right here in the United States.

#20. Denver International Airport (DEN)

Location: Denver CO, United States

2017 rank: #20

2016 rank: #18

Total passenger traffic 2017: 61,379,396

Percent change: 5.3%

#19. Incheon International Airport (ICN)

Location: Incheon, South Korea

2017 rank: #19

2016 rank: #20

Total passenger traffic 2017: 62,157,834

Percent change: 7.5%

#18. Singapore Changi Airport (SIN)

Location: Singapore, Singapore

2017 rank: #18

2016 rank: #17

Total passenger traffic 2017: 62,220,000

Percent change: 6%

#17. Soekarno–Hatta International Airport (CGK)

Location: Jakarta, Indonesia

2017 rank: #17

2016 rank: #19

Total passenger traffic 2017: 63,015,620

Percent change: 8.3%

#16. Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL)

Location: New Delhi, India

2017 rank: #16

2016 rank: #22

Total passenger traffic 2017: 63,451,503

Percent change: 14.1%

#15. Istanbul Atatürk Airport (IST)

Location: Istanbul, Turkey

2017 rank: #15

2016 rank: #14

Total passenger traffic 2017: 64,119,374

Percent change: 6.1%

#14. Frankfurt Airport (FRA)

Location: Frankfurt, Germany

2017 rank: #14

2016 rank: #13

Total passenger traffic 2017: 64,500,386

Percent change: 6.1%

#13. Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (CAN)

Location: Guangzhou, China

2017 rank: #13

2016 rank: #15

Total passenger traffic 2017: 65,887,473

Percent change: 10.3%

#12. Dallas/Forth Worth International Airport (DFW)

Location: Dallas/Fort Worth TX, United States

2017 rank: #12

2016 rank: #11

Total passenger traffic 2017: 67,092,194

Percent change: 2.3%

#11. Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)

Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands

2017 rank: #11

2016 rank: #12

Total passenger traffic 2017: 68,515,425

Percent change: 7.7%

#10. Charles de Gaulle International Airport (CDG)

Location: Paris, France

2017 rank: #10

2016 rank: #10

Total passenger traffic 2017: 69,471,442

Percent change: 5.4%

#9. Pudong International Airport (PVG)

Location: Shanghai, China

2017 rank: #9

2016 rank: #9

Total passenger traffic 2017: 70,001,237

Percent change: 6.1%

#8. Hong Kong International Airport (HKG)

Location: Hong Kong, Hong Kong

2017 rank: #8

2016 rank: #8

Total passenger traffic 2017: 72,664,075

Percent change: 3.4%

#7. London Heathrow Airport (LHR)

Location: London, Great Britain

2017 rank: #7

2016 rank: #7

Total passenger traffic 2017: 78,014,598

Percent change: 3%

#6. Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)

Location: Chicago IL, United States

2017 rank: #6

2016 rank: #6

Total passenger traffic 2017: 79,828,183

Percent change: 2.4%

#5. LAX International Airport (LAX)

Location: Los Angeles CA, United States

2017 rank: #5

2016 rank: #4

Total passenger traffic 2017: 84,557,968

Percent change: 4.5%

#4. Haneda Airport (HND)

Location: Tokyo, Japan

2017 rank: #4

2016 rank: #5

Total passenger traffic 2017: 85,408,975

Percent change: 6.5%

#3. Dubai International Airport (DXB)

Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates

2017 rank: #3

2016 rank: #3

Total passenger traffic 2017: 88,242,099

Percent change: 5.5%

#2. Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK)

Location: Beijing, China

2017 rank: #2

2016 rank: #2

Total passenger traffic 2017: 95,786,442

Percent change: 1.5%

#1. Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)

Location: Atlanta GA, United States

2017 rank: #1

2016 rank: #1

Total passenger traffic 2017: 103,902,992

Percent change: -0.3%

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