Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport has retained its title as the world’s busiest airport, even as Asia-Pacific hubs made the biggest gains in global aviation rankings amid a continued rebound in international travel.
The latest 2026 ACI World Airport Traffic Dataset shows Atlanta handled 106.3 million passengers in 2025, comfortably holding onto the top spot despite a 1.6 per cent decline in traffic.
Dubai remained second with 95.2 million passengers, while Tokyo Haneda ranked third with 91.7 million as both airports continued to narrow the gap on Atlanta.
The biggest movers, however, were in Asia-Pacific. Kuala Lumpur International Airport climbed six places to 20th after recording an 11 per cent increase in passengers to 63.4 million. Shanghai Pudong rose five spots to fifth, while Guangzhou Baiyun continued its post-pandemic comeback, jumping to ninth after ranking as low as 57th in 2022.
Overall, global passenger traffic reached 9.8 billion in 2025, up 3.7 per cent on 2024 and 6.5 per cent above pre-pandemic levels, with the world’s 20 busiest airports carrying a combined 1.59 billion passengers.
ACI World director general Justin Erbacci said the record passenger numbers were putting increasing pressure on airport capacity.
“Global air travel is approaching a historic milestone, but record demand is also exposing growing pressures on capacity,” Erbacci said.
The report also found Hong Kong International Airport retained its position as the world’s busiest cargo hub, while Chicago O’Hare overtook Atlanta as the world’s busiest airport for aircraft movements for the first time since 2020.
