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Busy airports: Atlanta still #1, but Asia surges

 

Rapidly growing air travel in Asia and India is pushing new names up the list of world's busiest airports, although Atlanta, with a third straight year of over 100 million passengers is still tops. It's the only airport ever to top that number.

The Airport Council International's rankings show that Beijing is getting close, at 95.8 million, up 1.5% over the previous year. Dubai, #3 at 88.2 million, grew by 5.5%. At present growth rates, it could be number one in three years.

Asian airports with big growth include New Delhi, with 14.1%, Xian Xianyang 13.1%, Kuala Lumpur 11.2% and Guangzhou 10.2%. Only four of the world's busiest airports saw drops, including a slight drop in Atlanta, and also at Miami and Houston. The only other loser was Rome's FCO. And a surprise ranking drop: Even though its passenger numbers rose, New York's JFK fell off the top 20. Last year it ranked 16th.

RankingAirportPassengers in 2017% change
1Atlanta103.9m-0.3
2Beijing95.8m1.5
3Dubai88.2m5.5
4Tokyo Haneda85.4m6.5
5Los Angeles84.6m4.5
6Chicago O'Hare79.8m2.4
7London Heathrow78m3
8Hong Kong72.7m3.4
9Shanghai70m6.1
10Paris Charles de Gaulle69.5m5.4
11Amsterdam68.5m7.7
12Dallas/Fort Worth67.1m2.3
13Guangzhou65.9m10.3
14Frankfurt64.5m6.1
15Istanbul63.9m6
16New Delhi63.5m14.1
17Jakarta63m8.3
18Singapore Changi62.2m6
19Seoul Inchoen62.2m7.5
20Denver61.4m5.3



Dubai's airport. Photo: Konstantin von Wedelstaedt/Wikimedia

The best part of every trip is realizing that it has upset your expectations

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