As every month, we’re delighted to present the world’s largest airports. Once again, we counted flights and put together the essential ranking. Here’s what’s contained:
Global Top 20 Airports
EMEA Top 10 Airports
Asia Top 10 Airports
North America Top 10 Airports
Latin America Top 10 Airports
World’s Largest Airports By Number of Flights — Global Top 20
Similar to previous months, U.S. and Chinese airports continue to dominate the list of the world’s largest airports. Ten out of 20 airports are located in the United States of America, whereas seven are located in China. Due to the traffic increase during the last months, the first eight positions are in U.S. hands. With Istanbul Ataturk and Mexico City, only one European resp. Latin American airports made it to the world’s top 20.
| Rank | IATA | Airport | Flights July | Change Prev. Month % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ORD | Chicago O’Hare | 33,139 | No data |
| 2 | ATL | Atlanta | 30,753 | 12.4  |
| 3 | DFW | Dallas/Fort Worth | 29,794 | No data |
| 4 | DEN | Denver | 27,728 | No data |
| 5 | CLT | Charlotte | 21,841 | 3.2 |
| 6 | LAX | Los Angeles | 20,981 | 8.6 |
| 7 | IAH | Houston | 17,976 | No data |
| 8 | SEA | Seattle | 17,290 | 5.7 |
| 9 | CAN | Guangzhou | 16,754 | 79.4 |
| 10 | CKG | Chongqing | 16,627 | 3.6 |
| 11 | XIY | Xi’an | 16,491 | 8.9 |
| 12 | PVG | Shanghai Pudong | 16,482 | 9.5 |
| 13 | KMG | Kunming | 15,331 | 12.2 |
| 14 | PEK | Beijing Capital | 15,276 | No data |
| 15 | PHX | Phoenix | 15,075 | No data |
| 16 | IST | Istanbul Ataturk | 13,854 | 38.5 |
| 17 | LAS | Las Vegas | 13,780 | No data |
| 18 | MEX | Mexico City | 13,773 | 13.4 |
| 19 | CTU | Chengdu | 13,644 | 11.9 |
| 20 | HND | Tokyo Haneda | 13,617 | 16.1 |
World’s Largest Airports By Number of Flights — EMEA
European airports reported tremendous growth rates in July. Except for Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen, all airports recorded growth rates beyond 30%. Moreover, it is interesting to see that three of the top 10 airports are located in Spain. However, this is probably related to the current holiday season. Since the airports on positions 1-5 are pretty closer, it will be interesting to see how the growth continues in the following months.
On top of that, if European airports can keep the pace of their growth rates the top players like Amsterdam, Paris, or Frankfurt are likely to return to the world’s top 20 in the following months. As a side notice: It is still interesting that London Heathrow, Europe’s biggest airport in pre-COVID time, is still not represented among the top 10!
| Rank | IATA | Airport | Flights July | Change Prev. Month % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IST | Istanbul Ataturk | 13,854 | 38.5 |
| 2 | AMS | Amsterdam | 13,399 | 43.7 |
| 3 | CDG | Paris Charles de Gaulle | 12,953 | No data |
| 4 | FRA | Frankfurt | 11,968 | 46.7 |
| 5 | SVO | Moscow Sheremetyevo | 11,254 | No data |
| 6 | MAD | Madrid | 10,176 | 37.2 |
| 7 | SAW | Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen | 9,756 | 24.4 |
| 8 | PMI | Palma de Mallorca | 9,154 | 68.9 |
| 9 | BCN | Barcelona | 8,930 | 55.2 |
| 10 | ATH | Athens | 8,672 | 37.5 |
World’s Largest Airports By Number of Flights — Asia
Asian, or shall we say Chinese airports, saw a mixed month. Some airports reported significant growth rates (Guangzhou, Shenzhen, or Delhi), while others recorded meager growth (Chongqing or Shanghai). However, as mentioned before, the list of Asia’s top airports is clearly dominated by Chinese airports. Besides India’s Delhi Airport, there’s no non-Chinese airport contained in the list of Asia’s largest airports.
| Rank | IATA | Airport | Flights July | Change Prev. Month % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CAN | Guangzhou | 16,754 | 79.4 |
| 2 | CKG | Chongqing | 16,627 | 3.6 |
| 3 | XIY | Xi’an | 16,491 | 8.9 |
| 4 | PVG | Shanghai Pudong | 16,482 | 9.5 |
| 5 | KMG | Kunming | 15,331 | 12.2 |
| 6 | PEK | Beijing Capital | 15,276 | No data |
| 7 | CTU | Chengdu | 13,644 | 11.9 |
| 8 | SZX | Shenzhen | 13,436 | 17.3 |
| 9 | SHA | Shanghai Hongqiao | 11,512 | 7.7 |
| 10 | DEL | Delhi | 11,366 | 24.3 |
World’s Largest Airports By Number of Flights — North America
Unfortunately, we can provide you with month-on-month growth rates for many U.S. airports since data isn’t available yet.
| Rank | IATA | Airport | Flights July | Change Prev. Month % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ORD | Chicago O’Hare | 33,139 | No data |
| 2 | ATL | Atlanta | 30,753 | 12.4 |
| 3 | DFW | Dallas/Fort Worth | 29,794 | No data |
| 4 | DEN | Denver | 27,728 | No data |
| 5 | CLT | Charlotte | 21,841 | 3.2 |
| 6 | LAX | Los Angeles | 20,981 | 8.6 |
| 7 | IAH | Houston | 17,976 | No data |
| 8 | SEA | Seattle | 17,290 | 5.7 |
| 9 | PHX | Phoenix | 15,075 | No data |
| 10 | LAS | Las Vegas | 13,780 | No data |
World’s Largest Airports By Number of Flights — Latin America
Many Latin American airports witnessed a massive growth in July. However, except Mexico City, Latin American airports operate at a much lower level than other world regions. Even large airports, such as Bogota, Sao Paulo, or Panama, are still below the 10,000 flight mark.
| Rank | IATA | Airport | Flights July | Change Prev. Month % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MEX | Mexico City | 13,773 | 13.4 |
| 2 | BOG | Bogota | 8,204 | 7.6 |
| 3 | GRU | Sao Paulo Guarulhos | 7,507 | 30.7 |
| 4 | BZE | Belize | 3,548 | 3.7 |
| 5 | PTY | Panama | 3,513 | No data |
| 6 | BSB | Brasilia | 3,468 | 32.7 |
| 7 | CGH | Sao Paulo Congonhas | 3,420 | 61.1 |
| 8 | SCL | Santiago | 3,158 | 39.9 |
| 9 | MTY | Monterrey | 3,011 | 14.5 |
| 10 | REC | Recife | 2,959 | 22.6 |
Used Data
The shown information is based on OAG data and internal data sources. Rankings only included airlines that operated more than 500 flights in the respective month. However, the global benchmark includes all tracked flights. On average, 200 airlines are included in each month’s analysis. Whenever stated, EMEA refers to airlines based in Europe, the Middle East, or Africa.
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