Another year has gone by, and Atlanta is still at the top of the ‘busiest’ airports list published by Airports Council International, based on passenger numbers.
But often buried in the publicity for Atlanta is another busiest stat: most aircraft operations—total number of take-offs and landings, and that crown now belongs to Chicago O’Hare. which ranks only #6 in passengers, up from 8th last year. The operations total spiked by 11%, largely based on rafts of new flights by American and United.
For passenger totals, four of 10 are in the U.S., while 7 of 10 with the most operations are U.S.-based. Atlanta’s reign at the top, by the way, has run through 25 of the past 26 years, missing only a pandemic year.
Top airports by passengers:
And the ranks by aircraft operations:
