This year’s list of the busiest airports is out. Each year the Airports Council International (ACI) releases a list of the top 10 airports across four different categories. The results show a host of drastic shifts in rankings last year as the world grappled with the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.
The long and short of this year’s results are that the United States dominated this year’s list. In 2020, a number of Chinese airports rose in prominence as their economy recovered quicker from the first COVID-19 wave as other areas of the world (like Europe and the United States) struggled with wave after wave of the virus. In 2021, that trend reversed as pent-up demand for leisure travel led to a faster than anticipated recovery for air travel. Major US hubs like Atlanta and DFW Airport role to 1st and 2nd place, respectively. Still, their traffic numbers are double digit percentage amounts less than 2019.
2021 Top-Ten Passenger Airports
| ’21 | ’20 | ’19 | Airport | 2021 | % chg vs 2020 | % chg vs 2019 |
| 1 | 2 | 1 | ATLANTA, GA | 75.7M | 76.4 | -31.5 |
| 2 | 4 | 10 | DFW Airport | 62.46M | 58.7 | -16.8 |
| 3 | 8 | 16 | DENVER, CO | 58.8M | 74.4 | -14.8 |
| 4 | 13 | 6 | CHICAGO, IL | 54.0M | 75.1 | -36.2 |
| 5 | 15 | 3 | LOS ANGELES, CA | 48.0M | 66.8 | -45.5 |
| 6 | 18 | 34 | CHARLOTTE, NC | 43 302 230 | 59.2 | -13.4 |
| 7 | 27 | 31 | ORLANDO, FL | 40.35M | 86.7 | -20.3 |
| 8 | 1 | 11 | GUANGZHOU, CN | 40.26M | -8.0 | -45.1 |
| 9 | 3 | 24 | CHENGDU, CN | 40.1M | -1.5 | -28.2 |
| 10 | 22 | 30 | LAS VEGAS, NV | 39.75M | 78.6 | -23.1 |
Atlanta returned after briefly being dethroned by Guangzhou, China last year. The United States took 8 out the 10 top spots. Making the top 10 list for the first time include growing American Airline hub Charlotte, family vacation destination Orlando, and weekend getaway hotspot at Las Vegas, NV. The shift in the rankings clearly show that leisure travel has recovered but business travel is still lagging behind significantly as workers shift towards remote work.
“The ACI World passenger traffic rankings tell the story of an encouraging trend of recovery, with most of the recurrent busiest airports pre-COVID-19 back at the top,” ACI World Director General Luis Felipe de Oliveira said. “Although we are cautious that recovery could face multiple headwinds, the momentum created by reopening plans by countries could lead to an uptick in travel in the second half of 2022.”
ACI then went on to ask governments to reduce their burdensome travel requirements and restrictions to speed the movement of both passengers and cargo.
Cargo continues to grow
One trend that continues is the growth of air cargo, particularly between the US and Asian markets. This aligns with the fact that supply chain disruptions, medical needs, and delayed products have led to a significantly increased need for express shipping across the globe. Most of this cargo have originated in Asia then transited the main shipping hubs of Memphis, Anchorage, Louisville and Doha.
| ’21 | ’20 | ’19 | Airport | 2021 | % change vs 2020 | % change vs 2019 |
| 1 | 2 | 1 | HONG KONG | 5.02M | 12.5 | 4.5 |
| 2 | 1 | 2 | MEMPHIS TN | 4.48M | -2.9 | 3.6 |
| 3 | 3 | 3 | SHANGHAI, CN | 3.98M | 8.0 | 9.6 |
| 4 | 4 | 6 | ANCHORAGE, AK | 3.55M | 12.6 | 29.5 |
| 5 | 6 | 5 | INCHEON, KR | 3.33M | 18.0 | 20.4 |
| 6 | 5 | 4 | LOUISVILLE, KY | 3.05M | 4.6 | 9.4 |
| 7 | 7 | 9 | TAIPEI, TW | 2.81M | 20.0 | 28.9 |
| 8 | 8 | 13 | LOS ANGELES, CA | 2.69M | 20.7 | 28.7 |
| 9 | 11 | 10 | TOKYO, JP | 2.64M | 31.1 | 25.7 |
| 10 | 9 | 8 | DOHA, QA | 2.62M | 20.5 | 18.2 |
ACI has a great report with additional details and categories. Be sure to check out the full report here.
