World's busiest airport

World's busiest airport is a claim that is fiercely fought over by the owners of the world's largest airports. The definition of busiest has been specified by the Airports Council International in Geneva, Switzerland. The ACI defines and measures the following 3 types of airport traffic:

• Passenger Traffic- total passengers enplaned and deplaned, passengers in transit counted once.
• Cargo Traffic- loaded and unloaded freight and mail in metric tonnes.
• Traffic Movements- landings and take-offs of aircraft.

The following airports have variously made claims (or had claims made for them):

The World's Busiest Airports

The following airports make claims based on objective volume measures that are well defined and widely accepted within the aviation industry:

• Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Atlanta, Georgia, United States

Largest number of passengers annually. (1998–2008)

Most arrivals and departures ("operations") annually. (1999–2000, 2005–2007). In 2007, Hartsfield again set the world's record for most aircraft movements in one year with 994,346.

Most destinations served.

• Memphis International Airport, Memphis, Tennessee, United States

Most cargo traffic by volume annually. (1993–2006)

Other current claims

The following airports also make claims based on objective measures, but some of the claims are based on traffic classification:

• London Heathrow Airport, London, United Kingdom

Largest number of international passengers annually (2004–present)

• Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles, California, United States

Largest number of "origin and destination" (non-connecting) passengers annually (2001–present)

• Van Nuys Airport, Los Angeles, California, United States

World's busiest general aviation airport (take-offs and landings annually).

• Frankfurt International Airport, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Most international destinations served.

Historical claims

• Chicago Midway International Airport, Chicago, Illinois, United States

Held from 1932 until O'Hare took the title in 1962, Midway was the world's busiest airport by passenger and aircraft movements. Before World War II, Chicago Midway was the origin or destination of one in four U.S. airline flights.

• Chicago O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, Illinois, United States

Largest number of passengers annually (before 1998)

Most arrivals and departures annually (before 1998, 2001–2004).

O'Hare Airport is currently declining in all categories of volume: passengers, cargo and movements.

• Tokyo International Airport, Tokyo, Japan (popularly known as Haneda Airport)

The world's busiest domestic-only airport until service to Seoul started. Busiest airport in Japan and Asia.

• Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, Shanghai, People's Republic of China

The worlds busiest domestic-only airport until service began to Tokyo in October 2007. It only handles 19.3 million passengers, but only defeated Chicago Midway International Airport by around 0.5 million passengers. The international passenger services are served by Shanghai Pudong International Airport, which handles around 60% of the traffic within Shanghai. It is 15th busiest in Asia and 62nd busiest in the world.

See also

• World's busiest airports by traffic movements
• World's busiest airports by passenger traffic
• World's busiest airports by international passenger traffic
• World's busiest airports by cargo traffic
• World's busiest passenger air routes
• World's largest airlines

References

External links

• Airports Council International website. A representative industry body for the airport industry that provides air travel statistics.