After a COVID-induced dip that led to it falling out of the No. 1 slot last year, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is once again back on top of the world when it comes to passenger traffic.
The resurgent “world’s busiest airport” welcomed 75.7 million passengers in 2021, a 76 percent jump from the first pandemic year but still 32 percent below its peak of 111 million in 2019, according to Airports Council International World.
In 2020, Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport edged out Hartsfield-Jackson, a symptom of shutdowns and internal travel challenges that endured longer in the United States than in China, which saw domestic travel come back quickly after it tamped down early COVID outbreaks.
International and business travel have yet to come back full strength, but strong leisure travel demand domestically led to the rebound in ATL and other domestic hubs, even as traditionally global rivals continued to face depressed passenger volumes.
Eight of the top 10 busiest airports were in the United States in 2021. Previously been forced to fend off challenges from Beijing, Dubai and London-Heathrow, this year it was trailed by Dallas (62.5 million passengers), Denver (58.8 million) and Chicago O’Hare (54 million), a perennial foil especially when it comes to compiling the most takeoffs and landings.
Of international hubs, only the Guangzhou airport and that of Chengdu, China, broke into the top-10, with just over 40 million passengers each.
Globally, ACI World noted that airports moved about 4.5 billion passengers last year, up 25 percent from 2020 but still down some 50 percent from 2019 totals.