Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta handled 106.3 million passengers in 2025, keeping first place in ACI World's preliminary rankings with an 11.1 million margin over Dubai International, the global airport association announced on April 14, 2026. The figures show a market that kept growing despite tight supply: airports worldwide served an estimated 9.8 billion passengers last year, up 3.6% on 2024 and 7.3% above 2019.

Demand climbed on cheaper fuel and stronger household budgets. Jet fuel cost roughly 13% less than a year earlier, while cooling inflation lifted purchasing power. Supply lagged. Slot and infrastructure limits, aircraft delivery backlogs, air navigation constraints, and airspace closures forced rerouting and pushed traffic toward alternative hubs. Large hubs in North America and Europe neared saturation. Justin Erbacci, director general of ACI World, argues that keeping pace with demand requires governments to make sustained investment in airports and the wider aviation system a priority. He also credits the busiest hubs with supporting trade, tourism, and economic growth in their regions.

ACI World's 811 members operate more than 2,200 airports in over 160 countries. The association ranks airports in four categories: total passengers, international passengers, air cargo, and aircraft movements. The April release is a first look; full rankings drawing on data from more than 2,700 airports follow in July 2026, and early figures could differ by small margins.

Why does Atlanta lead while others reshuffle?

Domestic travel drives it. Atlanta is one of four U.S. airports in the passenger top 10, and domestic flyers make up between 80% and 95% of traffic at each — at least four in five travelers at every one of them. Atlanta alone carried about 1.1% of global passengers, implying 85–101 million domestic trips and no more than 21.3 million cross-border passengers. London Heathrow and Incheon, second and third for international traffic, each move more cross-border flyers than Atlanta. Atlanta also ranked second in aircraft movements, behind Chicago O'Hare and ahead of Dallas/Fort Worth. No other airport claims a top-three spot on both lists — each Atlanta movement carries more people, on average, than one at O'Hare.

Dubai International held second for total passengers at 95.2 million, with Tokyo Haneda 3.5 million behind. Dubai also retained the top spot for international passengers, ahead of Heathrow and Incheon, an unchanged podium. International traffic grew 5.9% to 4.0 billion passengers, 8.3% above 2019, and the 10 busiest international airports handle 17% of it — roughly 680 million travelers through ten hubs.

What moved in 2025?

Asia-Pacific's rebound reshuffled the table:

• Tokyo Haneda climbed to third at 91.7 million passengers, about 96% of Dubai's total and 86% of Atlanta's. The top three combined carried 293.2 million passengers, close to 3% of the world total. The release doesn't explain what drove Haneda's rise.
• Shanghai Pudong jumped from 10th to fifth, the biggest gain in the top 10. The release credits recovering international traffic, looser visa policies, and broader connectivity — two of the three depend on crossing borders, and visa rules belong to governments, not operators. Pudong also held second in air cargo, behind Hong Kong and ahead of Anchorage, making it the only named airport high in both people and freight.
• Guangzhou Baiyun returned to ninth, up from 57th in 2022 — a 48-place rebound the association describes as recovering lost ground.

Only Atlanta and Dubai held their passenger positions. Heathrow, the lone European airport named in any category, kept second internationally on cross-border demand alone, even as Europe's hubs neared saturation. Incheon held third for international passengers and appears in no other category. Holding that rank through a year of expanding overseas travel shows no challenger's cross-border growth erased its lead.

Where does the freight sit?

Hong Kong kept first place in air cargo, ahead of Shanghai Pudong, with Anchorage climbing into third — the only change among the cargo leaders. Worldwide shipments reached an estimated 128.9 million metric tonnes, and the top 10 cargo airports handle close to 26% of that, about 33.5 million tonnes, or one of every four tonnes flown. Strong e-commerce demand and reworked supply chains drove growth, and the release credits faster, restructured chains for the volume — though it ties Anchorage's gain to no specific cause. That concentration means trouble at one freight hub reaches a far larger slice of global trade than a disruption at a passenger gateway.

What do the flight counts show?

Chicago O'Hare handled more takeoffs and landings than any airport, yet misses the passenger top three. Aircraft movements reached about 101.5 million worldwide, up 2.3% on 2024 and just 0.2% above 2019, while passenger traffic outpaced flights by 1.3 points against 2024 and 7.1 points against 2019 — a gap suggesting fuller cabins or larger aircraft. The top 10 for movements account for only 6.4% of the global total, the weakest hub concentration of the four categories. Freight clusters tightest, passengers sit in the middle, flights spread loosest. Even the world's busiest runway system handles a sliver of global air traffic.