Atlanta Airport is the busiest airport in the world in terms of passenger traffic in 2021, according to a ranking published this week by ACI, the World Airports Organization.
Almost 76 million passengers passed through the Atlanta airport in 2021. The passenger count includes take offs, landings, and transit passengers (counted once). The number of passengers at the airport in Atlanta increased last year by 76% compared to 2020, during which passenger traffic was more limited due to the restrictions of the Corona virus.
The aviation market in the USA is the one that recovered at the highest rate and volume in light of domestic passenger traffic, which constitutes approximately 80% of aviation activity in the USA. We will remind that until now the entry of foreigners to the USA is only for those who have been vaccinated.
The USA occupies the top of the list
North American airports are ranked in the first seven places in the ranking, which includes 20 airports in the world. After Altanta is located the airport in Dallas whose passenger traffic in 2021 was 62.5 million passengers, followed by Denver with approximately 59 million passengers, followed by the airports in Chicago, Los Angeles, Charlotte (North Carolina) and Orlando.
In eighth place is the Chinese Guangzhou Airport, which in the previous ranking took first place. China has not yet opened to international passenger traffic since the outbreak of the Corona virus and the main activity in the country is domestic flights.
About 40.2 million passengers flew at the airport in Guangzhou in 2021, an 8% decrease compared to the previous year, during which passenger traffic also reflected a dramatic decrease in light of the restrictions of the Corona virus.
Also in eighth place is a Chinese airport – Chengdu, and below it American airports return to star in the ranking, Las Vegas (10), Phoenix Arizona and Miami ranked 12th compared to its previous ranking of 38th.
Below the Delhi airport ranked 13th with a traffic of 37 million passengers is the Istanbul airport. The one that is for many Israelis a destination through which they continue to other countries (connection). The Turkish government has set itself the goal of increasing the avenues of aviation and tourism, among other things, by establishing the huge airport that was launched before the corona and which is the parent for Turkish Airlines with its 380 planes. From there the company continues to more than 300 destinations around the world. The passenger traffic in 2021 in Istanbul was about 37 million, and the airport improved its ranking from 20th place in 2020, to 14th place in the 2021 summary. According to the company’s data, it is likely that the year 2022 will conclude Istanbul Airport in an even higher place in the ranking.
Mexico City’s airport is in 17th place and the list is closed by Beijing’s airport, where 32.6 million passengers passed in 2021. This airport was also designed to serve as a giant hub for onward flights from China to various destinations in the East. Beijing Airport was ranked 7th in the 2020 ranking.
A record in cargo flights
ACI’s ranking also included the busiest airports for cargo (cargo flights). This segment grew at a rate of 15.4% compared to the previous year to a record of flying cargo with a total weight of 125 million tons. The cargo traffic reflected 44% of the global aircraft traffic in 2021. At the top of the list of airports with the largest cargo activity is the airport in Hong Kong with a volume of approximately 5 million tons of annual shipping. It is followed by the Memphis airport and the third by the Shanghai airport.
Global aircraft traffic in 2021 reached approximately 74 million, a 19% growth compared to 2020 but a 28% decrease compared to 2019. The 20 busiest airports ranked by the Airports Organization reflect 12% of global aircraft traffic. At the airport in Atlanta, for example, aircraft traffic in 2021 amounted to 708 thousand – an increase of 29% compared to 2020, and a decrease of 22% compared to the aircraft traffic of 2019, which reached 904 thousand.