ACI World: US dominates top 10 passenger airports for 2021, global traffic down 50% on 2019

12 April, 2022

ACI World released (11-Apr-2022) its world airport rankings, estimating that global passenger traffic reached almost 4.5 billion in 2021, a decline of over 50% compared to 2019 levels. Passenger traffic at the top 10 busiest airports declined 29.1% compared to 2019. The top 10 airports by passengers are as follows:

  • Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport: 75.7 million, -31.5% compared to 2019;
  • Dallas Fort Worth International Airport: 62.5 million -16.8%;
  • Denver International Airport: 58.8 million, -14.8%;
  • Chicago O'Hare International Airport: 54 million, -36.2%;
  • Los Angeles International Airport: 48 million, -45.5%;
  • Charlotte Douglas International Airport: 43.3 million, -13.4%;
  • Orlando International Airport: 40.4 million, -20.3%;
  • Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport: 40.3 million, -45.1%;
  • Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport: 40.1 million, -28.2%;
  • Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport: 39.8 million, -23.1%.

ACI World director general Luis Felipe de Oliveira said the rankings "tell the story of an encouraging trend of recovery" in 2021 and "the momentum created by reopening plans by countries could lead to an uptick in travel in the second half of 2022". He added: "ACI World continues to advocate to governments to follow the data and ease travel restrictions to safely restore the movement of people, goods and services. This will provide travellers with more travel options and boost the overall recovery through aviation's unique role in boosting trade, tourism, investment and creating jobs". [more - original PR]