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 92.3 million passengers.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport again ranked top overall (international and domestic), with just over 108 million passengers.
Hong Kong International Airport was the world’s busiest airport for cargo traffic (see tables below).
ACI World revealed the results in the 2025 edition of its much-anticipated 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 2024 across three major categories: passenger traffic, air cargo volumes, and aircraft movements.
Built from more than 2,800 airports across 185+ countries and territories, the dataset provides a comprehensive snapshot of global air transport demand and activity over the past year.
Global passenger traffic hit a new high in 2024, surpassing 9.4 billion travellers, up +8.4% year-on-year and an encouraging +2.7% above pre-pandemic, 2019 levels.
The top 20 airports alone served 1.54 billion passengers, capturing 16% of global traffic.
ACI World singled out some notable shifts:
- Shanghai Pudong International Airport climbed 11 positions to rank tenth globally.
- Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport sustained its post-COVID comeback, reaching 12th place after ranking 57th in 2022.
- USA contributed six airports to the top 20, mostly dominated by domestic traffic – except for John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York where international passengers represented 56% of the base.
Aircraft movement highlights
Aircraft movements rose +3.9% year-on-year to 100.6 million globally in 2024, reaching 96.8% of 2019 levels. The top 20 airports recorded 11.08 million movements, up +5.4% over 2023.
Shanghai Pudong International again showed strong momentum, rising ten places to become the eighth-busiest airport by movements.
ACI World Director General Justin Erbacci said, “These rankings reflect the scale of global aviation and the resilience of the industry that continues to grow, despite the complex global environment.
“In these times of constant change and uncertainty, reliable data like this is necessary to help airports navigate through the increasing headwinds. Our mission is to empower airports with data and intelligence like this report – as well with the tools, support and advocacy they need to thrive in this dynamic environment.” ✈
