World's busiest airport

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Jump to: navigation, search The definition of the world's busiest airport has been specified by the Airports Council International in Geneva, Switzerland.[1] The ACI defines and measures the following three types of airport traffic: Passenger traffic total passengers emplaned and deplaned, passengers in transit counted once[2] Cargo traffic loaded and unloaded freight and mail in metric tonnes[3] Traffic movements landings and take-offs of aircraft[4]

Busiest airports
The following airports make claims based on objective volume measures that are defined above: Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Atlanta, Georgia, United States: Largest number of passengers annually (1998present);[5] Most arrivals and departures (operations) annually (19992000, 2005present);[6] In 2007, Hartsfield again set the world's record for most aircraft movements in one year with 994,346.[7] Most flights (2006).[8] Memphis International Airport, Memphis, Tennessee, United States Most cargo traffic by weight annually (19932009).[9]

[edit] Other current claims

The following airports also make claims based on objective measures, but some of the claims are based on traffic classification:

London Heathrow Airport, London, United Kingdom Largest number of internationally-bound passengers annually (2004present).[10]

Frankfurt International Airport, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Most international destinations served.

[edit] Historical claims

Chicago Midway International Airport, Chicago, Illinois, United States In the late 1940s, Cleveland was the busiest airport in the United States by total aircraft operations i.e., including every training aircraft practising take-offs and landings.[11] New York LaGuardia had the most airline operations and passengers until the early 1950s, when Chicago became the busiest airport in the United States by any criterion. Before World War II, Chicago Midway was the origin or destination of one in four U.S. airline flights,[12] although a 1939 Official Aviation Guide shows more airline flights scheduled at Newark than at Chicago.[13]

Chicago O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, Illinois, United States Largest number of passengers annually (before 1998); Most arrivals and departures annually (before 1998, 20012004).

Tokyo International Airport, Tokyo, Japan (also known as Haneda Airport) The world's busiest domestic-only airport until service to Seoul and Shanghai began. Busiest airport in Japan and 2nd busiest in Asia.

Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, Shanghai, China The world's busiest domestic-only airport until service began to Seoul and Tokyo in October 2007. It handles 19.3 million passengers (about half a million more than Chicago Midway International Airport). The international passenger services are served by Shanghai Pudong International Airport, which handles about 60% of the traffic within Shanghai. It is 15th busiest in Asia, and 62nd busiest in the world.

[edit] Non-standard claims

Some airports claim world's busiest airport based on criteria other than yearly numbers, and usually based on numbers surrounding certain events.

Wittman Regional Airport, Oshkosh, Wisconsin The world's busiest airport by traffic movements during the seven-day EAA AirVenture Oshkosh event. 25,000 traffic movements are handled in a week during the yearly event,[14] and air traffic controllers are picked by a competitive selection process to handle this traffic. During the event, a banner reading "WORLD'S BUSIEST CONTROL TOWER" is hung from the control tower.

London Gatwick, 5 km (3.1 mi) north of the centre of Crawley, West Sussex, United Kingdom (approximately 45.7 km (28.4 mi) south of Central London).[15] Gatwick has the world's busiest single-use runway.[16] It is London's second largest international airport and second busiest by total passenger traffic in the United Kingdom after Heathrow