Love ’em or hate ’em, the busiest airports in the world are where many of our holidays begin and end.
Once you’ve gone through security and found your gate, the excitement of travel kicks in. Unless, of course, your vacation mode was immediately unactivated by horrendous crowds, endless queues, and relentless transfers.
For most of us, choosing an airport largely comes down to which offers the best flight prices, convenient times, and proximity to destinations on either end of the journey. Discovering that your airline’s terminal also happens to have yummy food options, discounted Duty Free stores, or crowd-free security checks are all added bonuses.
But those ever hopeful for a calm airport experience will be pleased to hear that global travel statistics provider OAG pulls together data on the world’s busiest airports each year. By calculating the airline capacity (the total number of seats), for international and domestic flights in airports across North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, OAG has determined which airports truly are the world’s most frenetic.
Holding firm in first place is Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL). This won’t come as a surprise—the Georgia airport has been named the world’s busiest for 23 of the 24 years the report has been published. It operates more than 2,000 arrivals and departures per day, and has been the chief hub for Delta Airlines since it first opened in 1930.
Second place went to Dubai International Airport, which has steadily grown in airline capacity over the years (its capacity was 12% higher in 2024 than in 2019). It was also the only Middle Eastern airport to make the 2024 list—four entries are in North America, three are in Asia, and two are in Europe. London Heathrow was the only UK entry in this year’s list—the airport came in fourth place with 51.6 million seats (4% higher than 2023).
