World's Top Airports - 2003

Of course, there are many ways to define "top" airport (e.g., airports with the largest land area, the highest number of terminals, and so on), but one of the most useful measures is, obviously, how busy the airport is - that is to say how many passengers go through it every year.

In this article you'll find the list of the world's busiest airports. The number of passengers is counted using a simple formula: arriving + departing + direct transit passengers counted once.

1. Atlanta: Hartsfield, USA (ATL) -- 79 million
2. Chicago: O'Hare, USA (ORD) -- 69 million
3. London: Heathrow, UK (LHR) -- 63.5 million
4. Tokyo: Haneda, Japan (HND) -- 63 million
5. Los Angeles, USA (LAX) -- 55 million
6. Dalls / FortWorth, USA (DFW) -- 53 million
7. Frankfurt, Germany (FRA) -- 48.5 million
8. Paris: Charles de Gaulle, France (CDG) -- 48 million
9. Amsterdam: Schiphol, Netherlands (AMS) -- 40 million
10. Denver, USA (DEN) -- 37.5 million
    
    
11. Phoenix, USA (PHX) -- 37 million
12. Las Vegas: McCarran, USA (LAS) -- 36 million
13. Madrid: Barajas, Spain (MAD) -- 35.5 million
14. Houston: George Bush, USA (IAH) -- 34 million
15. Minneapolis / St.Paul, USA (MSP) -- 33 million
16. Detroit: Metro, USA (DTW) -- 32.5 million
17. New York: JFK, USA (JFK) -- 31.5 million
18. Bangkok, Thailand (BKK) -- 30 million
19. London: Gatwick, UK (LGW) -- 30 million
20. Miami, USA (MIA) -- 29.5 million
    
    
21. Newark, USA (EWR) -- 29.5 million
22. San Francisco, USA (SFO) -- 29 million
23. Orlando, USA (MCO) -- 27 million
24. Hong Kong, China (HKG) -- 26.5 million
25. Seattle / Tacoma, USA (SEA) -- 26.5 million
26. Tokyo: Narita, Japan (NRT) -- 26.5 million
27. Rome: Fiumicino (Leonardo da Vinci), Italy (FCO) -- 26 million
28. Toronto: Pearson, Canada (YYZ) -- 24.5 million
29. Sydney, Australia (SYD) -- 24.5 million
30. Philadelphia, USA (PHL) -- 24.5 million

Posted by Gromco in Airports on 05/Oct/2004