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'World's busiest airport' is a claim that is fiercely fought over by the owners of the world's largest airports. The definition of "busiest" is debated as well, with claims being staked on the basis of aircraft operations, cargo traffic or total passengers.
The following airports have variously made claims (or had claims made for them):

Contents

Primary Claims

Other Current Claims

Historical Claims

See also

External links

Primary Claims

The following airports make claims based on objective volume measures which are well defined and widely accepted within the aviation industry:

★ 'Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport', Atlanta, Georgia, United States
:Largest number of passengers annually. (1998–2006) [1]
:Most arrivals and departures ("operations") annually. (1999–2000, 2005–2007).[2] [3]

★ 'Memphis International Airport', Memphis, Tennessee, United States
:Most cargo traffic by volume annually. (1993–2006) [4]

★ 'London Heathrow Airport', Hayes, Greater London, United Kingdom
:Largest number of international passengers annually (2004) [5] [6]

Other Current Claims

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

★ 'Los Angeles International Airport', Los Angeles, California, United States
:Most originating or terminating (i.e., non-connecting) passengers.

★ 'Van Nuys Airport', Los Angeles, California, United States
:World's busiest general aviation airport (take-offs and landings annually).

★ 'Gatwick Airport', Crawley, West Sussex, United Kingdom
:World's busiest single runway airport (passengers) [7]

★ 'Frankfurt International Airport', Frankfurt am Main, Germany
:Most international destinations served.

Historical Claims

★ 'Chicago Midway International Airport', Chicago, Illinois, United States
:Held from 1932 until O'Hare took the title in 1962, Midway was the world's busiest airport by passenger and aircraft movements. Before World War II, Chicago Midway was the origin or destination of one in four U.S. airline flights. [8]

★ 'Chicago O'Hare International Airport', Chicago, Illinois, United States
:Largest number of passengers annually (before 1998)
:Most arrivals and departures annually (before 1998, 2001–2004).

★ 'Tokyo International Airport', Tokyo, Japan (popularly known as Haneda Airport)
:The world's busiest domestic-only airport until service to Seoul started. However, it is often overshadowed by Narita International Airport, which serves international passengers flying into Tokyo. Busiest airport in Japan and Asia.

See also

★ World's busiest airports by traffic movements

★ World's busiest airports by passenger traffic

★ World's busiest airports by international passenger traffic

★ World's busiest airports by cargo traffic

★ World's largest airlines

External links

★ Airports Council International website. A representative industry body for the airport industry that provides air travel statistics.