Atlanta

Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson back on top as the world’s busiest airport

ATLANTA — After a brief stint in the second place spot, Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is once again the busiest airport in the world.

The Airports Council International World released updated rankings for the ten busiest airports worldwide, and Atlanta’s airport topped the list.

Last year, Guangzhou Bai Yun International Airport in southeast China bumped the Atlanta airport to second place for the distinction for the first time in more than two decades.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

According to the ACI, Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport served 75,704,760 passengers in 2021, which is a 76.4% increase over the 2020 total.

Atlanta also had more aircraft movements than any other airport with 707,661 operations, which is 29.1% more than it did last year.

“We are thrilled to see the overwhelming increase in passenger traffic and are proud to be the busiest passenger and flight operations airport in the world,” said Airport General Manager Balram “B” Bheodari.

“These numbers speak to the resiliency and spirit of Atlanta and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport,” said Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens. “We thank our Airport employees and passengers who continued to stand with us as we worked through the unprecedented challenges of COVID-19.”

TRENDING STORIES:

Because of the pandemic, 2020 was an unprecedented year, air travel at Hartsfield-Jackson dropped more than 61% and served just 43 million passengers compared to 110 million in 2019.

In 2015, Hartsfield-Jackson became the first airport in the world to have more than 100 million passengers in one calendar year.

[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]

IN OTHER NEWS: