The 10 busiest airports in the world, ranked
Travel data company OAG released its annual report on the busiest airports.
The 2024 report measures total airline capacity for domestic and international flights.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport was the busiest global airport last year.
2024 was a huge year for the travel industry, as Gen Z showed their love for all-inclusive resorts, tourists chose to extend their trips, and wellness grew as a hot vacation agenda item.
To cap off the year's travels, OAG, a travel data company, released its annual report listing the busiest airports of the year.
Spanning four regions, including North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, the world's top 10 busiest airports had a total airline capacity of more than 523 million seats, according to data calculated from domestic and international flights taken from January to December 2024.
Unsurprisingly, Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport took the top spot, as it has done every other year since 1998, with the exception of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In fact, the top six busiest airports of 2024 each held their positions from 2023, and of those six, two have kept their rankings from 2019: Hartsfield-Jackson and Tokyo Haneda Airport.
As 2025 gears up to be yet another busy year in the skies, here's a look back at 2024's top 10 busiest airports in the world, according to OAG's report.
10. Chicago O'Hare International Airport
Seats: 46.99 million
The 10th busiest airport in the world in 2024 was Chicago O'Hare International Airport, which increased its airline capacity by 8% compared to 2023, but was still down 7% compared to 2019, when it was ranked as the sixth busiest airport.
O'Hare is a hub for both United and American Airlines.
9. Shanghai Pudong International Airport
Seats: 48.50 million
Shanghai Pudong International Airport increased its airline capacity by 29% — the largest margin of growth from 2023 to 2024 among airports in the top 10 — bringing it to the ninth busiest airport of 2024.
OAG cited "China's ongoing air travel recovery following the global pandemic" as the likely cause.
It was the 15th busiest airport in 2023 and eighth busiest in 2019.
8. Istanbul Airport
Seats: 48.52 million
Despite increasing airline capacity by 5% compared to 2023, Istanbul Airport dropped from the seventh busiest to the eighth busiest airport in the world in 2024.
However, its growth since 2019 has been positive, with a 15% increase in airline capacity.
7. Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport
Seats: 48.85 million
Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in Guangdong, China, was the seventh busiest airport of 2024, improving airline capacity by 12% compared to 2023, when it was the 10th busiest airport.
Guangzhou Baiyun also showed a 9% increase in capacity compared to 2019, when it ranked as the 12th busiest airport.
6. Denver International Airport
Seats: 49.22 million
As a hub for both United and Frontier Airlines, Denver International Airport was ranked the sixth busiest airport in the world, tying its 2023 ranking despite increasing capacity by 5%.
Of the top 10 airports listed, Denver International experienced the largest percentage growth in capacity from 2019 to 2024, increasing by 24%.
5. Dallas Fort Worth International Airport
Seats: 51.52 million
In fifth place was Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, which increased capacity by 7% compared to 2023, and by 18% compared to 2019.
In summer 2024, American Airlines offered more than 850 departures daily from Dallas Fort Worth, highlighting its position as the largest airline in the state.
4. Heathrow Airport
Seats: 51.55 million
London's Heathrow Airport was the fourth busiest global airport in 2024.
It experienced an airline capacity increase of 4% compared to 2023, when it also ranked fourth-busiest, and an increase of 3% compared to 2019, when it ranked seventh-busiest.
Heathrow is a hub for British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways.
3. Tokyo Haneda Airport
Seats: 55.20 million
Coming in third place was Tokyo Haneda Airport, which increased its capacity by 5% compared to 2023 but by 1% since 2019. In both of these years, it tied its current ranking of third busiest global airport.
Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways both call Haneda a hub.
2. Dubai International Airport
Seats: 60.24 million
Dubai International Airport was the second busiest global airport of 2024, having increased its airline capacity by 7% since 2023 when it also ranked second and by 12% since 2019.
Dubai International, and more specifically its Terminal 3, is a hub for Emirates.
1. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
Seats: 62.74 million
Finally, the busiest airport in the world in 2024 was Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
The airport increased capacity by 2% compared to 2023, but still falls short of its 2019 capacity by 1%.
Delta Airlines' largest hub is Atlanta.
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