Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport. Phot: Shutterstock Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport continues to be the world's busiest airport. According to data released this month, which refers to the year 2025, Atlanta airport handled more than 106.3 million passengers.
The data is published by the Airports Council International (ACI World), and is based on passenger, aircraft and cargo traffic data from all over the world.
Dubai International Airport is in second place with approximately 95.2 million passengers, and it continues to hold the title of the world's busiest airport for international flights. Tokyo (Haneda) rises to third place with approximately 91.7 million passengers, evidence of the impressive recovery of the Asian aviation market.
Also in the top 10 are Dallas-Fort Worth, Shanghai Pudong, Chicago O'Hare, London Heathrow, Guangzhou and Denver. Shanghai made one of the most impressive jumps in the rankings, moving from 10th to 5th place, thanks to renewed international connectivity and growing demand for flights.
The most impressive jump is that of Istanbul Airport, which in 2019 ranked 28th with 61.8 million passengers, in 2024 it jumped to 7th place, and last year it dropped one place to 8th place with 84.4 million passengers, the same figure as Heathrow.
In total, about 9.8 billion passengers passed through airports around the world in 2025, an increase of 3.7% compared to 2024 and 6.5% compared to the pre-corona peak year, 2019. However, due to the crisis in the Middle East that is deeply affecting regional aviation, this year's numbers (to be published next year) are not expected to break records.