US airports dominate rankings of world's busiest final 12 months

Vacationers stroll via Terminal A at Orlando Worldwide Airport on Christmas Day, Saturday, December 25, 2021.

Stephen M Dowell | Orlando Sentinel | Getty Photographs

US airports made up eight of the ten busiest hubs world wide final 12 months, in response to new rankings launched Monday, as a leap in home leisure journey displaced a few of the world’s bustling worldwide hubs throughout the pandemic.

Delta Air Traces hub Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Worldwide Airport, the world’s busiest earlier than the pandemic, maintained its prime spot on the Airport Council Worldwide’s 2021 preliminary rating, with 75.7 million passengers final 12 months. American Airways-dominated Dallas/Fort Value Worldwide Airport ranked second with 62.6 million passengers.

Denver Worldwide Airport vaulted to 3rd place final 12 months with 58.8 million individuals, up from eighth place in 2020 and sixteenth in 2019. Orlando Worldwide Airport jumped to seventh place with 40.3 million individuals—a giant enchancment after rating twenty seventh in 2020 and thirty first in 2019.

The rankings present how worldwide journey remained subdued final 12 months although some nations, together with the US, loosened pandemic journey restrictions. Whereas US airports topped the rating, passenger visitors was down throughout the board. ACI estimates airways carried 4.5 billion individuals final 12 months, down 50% from 2019 however up 25% from 2020.

Home US leisure journey has been a vibrant spot within the pandemic for the nation’s airways, although executives have stated they count on a minimum of trans-Atlantic journey demand to be sturdy this spring and summer season. Renewed lockdowns in China have forged doubt on a resurgence in a requirement there, nevertheless.

In 2019, airports in Beijing, Dubai and Tokyo ranked second, third and fifth on the record, respectively. Dubai continued to prime worldwide passenger visitors rankings final 12 months. The opposite two hubs did not make the minimize.

Listed below are the 2021 rankings (with 2019 rating in parentheses):