Top 10 (Worldwide) Busiest Passenger Airports in 2025
Key Takeaways
- Atlanta (ATL) remained the world's busiest airport by passenger traffic, handling 106.3 million passengers in 2025.
- Chicago O'Hare (ORD) led the world in aircraft movements, with 857,392 takeoffs and landings in 2025.
Airports Council International (ACI) has released the 2025 Busiest Airports in the World in Final Global Rankings. The results are compiled from over 2,800 airports across 180+ countries and territories. Global passenger traffic hit a new high in 2025, with a total of 9.8 billion travelers — up 3.7% from 2024 and 6.5% above pre-pandemic levels (2019).
2025 Aircraft Movements
| Airport (Code) | Movements | 2024 Rank | 2024 Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago (ORD) | 857,392 | 2 | 10.5% |
| Atlanta (ATL) | 807,625 | 1 | 1.4% |
| Dallas (DFW) | 743,394 | 3 | 0% |
| Denver (DEN) | 701,335 | 4 | 1.7% |
| Las Vegas (LAS) | 586,871 | 5 | -4.4% |
| Los Angeles (LAX) | 580,996 | 7 | 0.1% |
| Charlotte (CLT) | 574,193 | 6 | 3.8% |
| Shanghai (PVG) | 557,043 | 8 | 5.5% |
| Guangzhou City (CAN) | 550,512 | 10 | 7.5% |
| Istanbul (IST) | 549,309 | 9 | 6.2% |
Movements are calculated by totaling takeoffs and landings at a given airport. Chicago O'Hare (ORD) moved to first place with a growth of 10.5%, overtaking Atlanta (ATL). Once again, seven out of the top 10 airports were in the United States due to extensive domestic networks and high travel frequencies.
Another interesting ranking that I first thought might be a typo was Phoenix Deer Valley Airport (DVT) in 13th place worldwide with 490,702 aircraft movements in 2025—this was a big surprise to me that a non-airline airport could place in the top 20 busiest airports.
2025 Passengers Traveled
| Airport (Code) | Passengers | 2024 Rank | 2024 Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atlanta (ATL) | 106,302,208 | 1 | -1.6% |
| Dubai (DXB) | 95,192,160 | 2 | 3.1% |
| Tokyo (HND) | 91,679,814 | 4 | 6.7% |
| Dallas (DFW) | 85,660,127 | 3 | -2.5% |
| Shanghai (PVG) | 84,994,548 | 10 | 10.7% |
| Chicago (ORD) | 84,856,018 | 8 | 6.0% |
| London (LHR) | 84,482,126 | 5 | 0.7% |
| Istanbul (IST) | 84,437,710 | 7 | 5.5% |
| Guangzhou (CAN) | 83,582,952 | 12 | 9.5% |
| Denver (DEN) | 82,427,962 | 6 | 0.1% |
Atlanta International Airport (ATL) remains the world's busiest airport by passenger traffic, even with a 1.6% drop from 2024. Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) recorded one of the strongest growths in 2025, with a growth of 10.7%, and moved from 10th position to 5th.
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Closing Thoughts
It's nice to see more growth worldwide and big growth in Asia. Atlanta (ATL) still leads by a long shot, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.