America makes the most of it
Five US airports are alone among the ten busiest airports in the world. Tokyo Haneda saw the largest increase in the top 10 rankings, moving up from 16th place in 2022 to 5th place in 2023.
ACI stresses the remarkable recovery
The ACI emphasized during the list’s release the astounding global recovery of the civil aviation sector, which has recovered 93.8% from pre-pandemic levels.
“Approximately 8.5 billion passengers worldwide are expected in 2023 (about 850 crores), indicating a remarkable recovery of 93.8% from pre-pandemic levels (2019) and 27.2% more than in 2022,” the ACI stated.
“Notably, international traffic recovery drew nearer to that of domestic traffic, emphasizing its essential role in propelling the industry’s resurgence and expansion,” it stated.
In 2023, the airport in Delhi served approximately 7.22 crore passengers.
Indra Gandhi International (IGI) airport handled more than 7.22 crore passengers in 2023, according to ACI data. In 2022, the airport was ranked ninth.
Jackson Hartsfield Over 10.46 crore passengers passed through Atlanta International Airport in the previous year. Following it were Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (which handled over 8.17 crore passengers in 2023) and Dubai International Airport (which registered over 8.69 crore passengers).
Other stakeholders
Other airports on the list include Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (9th) with 73.89 crore passengers, Los Angeles International Airport (8th) with 75.05 crore passengers, Istanbul airport (7th) with 76.02 crore passengers, Denver International Airport (6th) with 77.83 crore passengers, and London’s Heathrow airport (4th) with over 79.18 crore passengers handled.
“The top 10 airports representing close to 10 per cent of global traffic (806 million passengers), witnessed a gain of 19.8 per cent from 2022 or a gain of 0.7 per cent vis-a-vis their 2019 results (801 million pax in 2019),” ACI stated in a release.