INTERNATIONAL. Dubai International Airport (DXB) has retained its top spot in Airports Council International (ACI) World’s annual ranking of the busiest gateways by international passenger traffic, serving 95.2 million passengers last year.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport again ranked top overall (international and domestic), with just over 106.3 million passengers.
ACI World revealed the results in the latest edition of its World Airport Traffic Dataset, described as the industry’s most comprehensive and authoritative resource for global airport rankings.
The new data confirms the world’s busiest airports in 2025 across three major categories: passenger traffic, air cargo volumes, and aircraft movements.
Atlanta and Dubai, ranked one and two overall, were followed by Tokyo Haneda, Dallas Fort Worth and Shanghai Pudong in the top five.
In 2025, global air travel reached 9.8 billion passengers, bringing the industry closer than ever to the 10 billion-passenger threshold, according to ACI World.
Global passenger traffic rose +3.7% over 2024 and +6.5% above 2019 levels. The world’s 20 busiest airports handled 1.59 billion passengers, representing 16% of all air travellers globally. Asia-Pacific airports led the year’s ranking shifts, driven by infrastructure investment, connectivity improvements and surging tourism demand.
Commenting on the findings, ACI World Director General Justin Erbacci said: “Global air travel is approaching a historic milestone, but record demand is also exposing growing pressures on capacity. The planning and investment decisions made today will determine whether aviation can meet the demands of the next generation of travellers.”
Kuala Lumpur International Airport was the biggest mover in the top 20, rising six places from 26th in 2024 to 20th in 2025. The airport served 63.4 million passengers, up +11% year-on-year, supported by capacity expansion, robust domestic traffic growth of +17%, sustained international demand up +8.7%, and stronger connectivity with China and other strategic markets, positioning the airport ahead of Visit Malaysia 2026.
Shanghai Pudong International Airport posted the second largest jump, climbing five places from tenth to fifth. Its +10.7% passenger growth was driven by the rebound in international travel, supported by visa policy easing and expanded global connectivity, reflecting the broader reopening of China’s aviation market, noted ACI.
Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport recorded one of the most notable trajectories in the 2025 rankings. Having topped the global table in 2020, the airport fell to 57th place in 2022 before returning to ninth in 2025, a result that reflects the scale and pace of China’s aviation recovery.
Five of the top 20 airports worldwide are located in the USA. Four are predominantly domestic hubs, with domestic traffic accounting for between 80 and 95% of total passengers. ✈
