Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL) has been named the world’s busiest global airport in 2023, clocking more than 61.2 million departing seats according to OAG's latest report released on Wednesday (20 December).
Half of the 10 busiest airports this year are in the US: Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in fifth, Denver International Airport at sixth, Los Angeles International Airport in eighth and Chicago O'Hare International Airport in ninth.
Only two European airports featured among the top 10 rankings: London Heathrow Airport in fourth position, with 49.3 million departing seats, and Istanbul Airport in seventh position, with 46.3 million seats.
Dubai International Airport was the world’s second busiest, with more than 56 million departing seats, followed by Tokyo Haneda Airport, with more than 52.6 million seats. China’s Guangzhou Airport rounded out the top 10, in tenth position, with 43.4 departing seats.
Airline capacity at Atlanta has increased by 12 per cent year-on-year and is just 3 per cent below 2019 levels, according to OAG, which uses both domestic and international airline capacity between January and December to calculate annual rankings. Meanwhile, capacity at Dubai has increased 5 per cent compared to 2019 when it was the fourth busiest airport in the world, and 25 per cent year-on-year.
Capacity at London Heathrow increased 23 per cent year-on-year, but is 2 per cent lower than pre-pandemic levels. At Istanbul Airport, capacity increased 19 per cent year-on-year and is 10 per cent higher than in 2019 when it was ranked thirteenth busiest in the world.
The route from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore Changi is the year’s busiest global international route, with 4.9 million seats, followed by that from Cairo to Jeddah, with 4.8 million seats. The route from Hong Kong to Taipei rounded out the top three, with 4.6 million seats. This was the busiest route in 2019, but capacity has since dropped by 43 per cent.
Seoul Incheon to Osaka Kansai is the fourth busiest international route in 2023, followed by Seoul Incheon to Tokyo Narita in fifth, Dubai to Riyadh in sixth, Jakarta to Singapore in seventh and New York JFK to London Heathrow in eighth with 3.5 million seats – 1 per cent ahead of 2019 levels.
Bangkok to Singapore and Bangkok to Seoul Incheon were ranked ninth and tenth, respectively.
In terms of domestic routes, South Korea’s Jeju International to Seoul Gimpo route is the world’s busiest, followed by Japan’s Sapporo New Chitose to Tokyo Haneda in second and Fukuoka to Tokyo Haneda in third. Vietnam’s Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City route and Australia’s Melbourne to Sydney route round out the top five.
“Asia continues to have the busiest routes in the world due to its popularity as a tourism hotspot,” said John Grant, chief analyst at OAG.
“New York’s JFK now offers more international connections than any other US airport, but domestic travel in the US remains competitive. Navigating ongoing supply chain challenges successfully will be key for airlines and airports in the US looking to attract more passengers and get capacity levels back to where they were in 2019,” he added.