Where are the Biggest Airports in the World?

Which is the largest airport in the world? Is this a question that has ever crossed your mind as you’ve sprinted across point A to B in a crowded airport?

According to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), more than 904 million people passed through American airports in 2024.

During the last couple of years, airports have been getting busier. In particular, from 2023 to 2024, airports witnessed passenger traffic increase by 5 percent.

At AirHelp, we are lucky to have a reliable and accurate collection of global flight data at our disposal. So we decided to crunch some numbers to work out the biggest airports in the world and where they are situated.

We chose the world's ten busiest airports, followed by the top five largest in both the United States and Europe based on departing passenger numbers.

• • The 10 largest airports in the world by passenger numbers
  • What is the largest airport in the United States
  • Largest airports in Europe

The following rankings display each airport's total annual passenger traffic, using the latest verified statistics available in June 2025 from the Airports Council International (ACI) and official airport authorities.

The world's 10 busiest airports by passenger traffic (2024)

Here are the world's top 10 largest airports by passenger numbers, based on Airports Council International (ACI) data:

1. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta (ATL) – 108.1 million passengers
2. Dubai International (DBX) – 92.3 million
3. Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) – 87.8 million
4. Tokyo Haneda (HND) – 85.9 million
5. London Heathrow (LHR) – 83.9 million
6. Denver International (DEN) – 82.4 million
7. Istanbul Airport (IST) – 80.1 million
8. Chicago O'Hare (ORD) – 80 million
9. Delhi Indira Gandhi (DEL) – 77.8 million
10. Shanghai Pudong (PVG) – 76.8 million

What is the largest airport in the United States?

1. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport (Atlanta)

Number of passengers: 108.1 million (2024)

• Since 1998, ATL’s high passenger traffic has placed the buzzing airport as a permanent fixture on the world’s busiest airport list
• The popular airport covers 4,700 acres of land and has five parallel runways
• ATL has 209 domestic and international gates

2. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (Dallas)

Number of passengers: 87.82 million (2024)

• In 2023, DFW served 81,764,044 passengers, a record for the facility, exceeding 80 million passengers for the first time in the airport's 50-year history
• DFW is the primary international airport serving the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex area in Texas
• It covers 17,207 acres of land and has five operational terminals
• DFW is so large that it has its own police, fire protection and emergency medical services

3. Denver International Airport (Denver)

Number of passengers: 82.4 million (2024)

• At 34,000 acres (53 sq mi), it is the largest airport in the United States by total area
• Denver International Airport has six runways, with runway 16R/34L measuring 16,000 feet – the longest commercial runway in North America
• The airport has only one terminal, the Jeppesen Terminal, which has three concourses and 179 gates

4. O’Hare International Airport (Chicago)

Number of passengers: 80 million (2024)

• Post-war, ORD’s innovative design spearheaded design concepts such as underground refuelling systems and direct highway access to a terminal
• The airport covers 7,627 acres
• O’Hare has direct flights to 217 destinations in Europe, Africa, North America, South America and Asia

5. Los Angeles International Airport (Los Angeles)

Number of passengers: 76.58 million (2024)

• LAX is the primary international airport serving in Los Angeles, California
• It stretches across 3,500 acres of land and has four parallel runways
• The airport connects nonstop to 101 domestic and 85 international destinations in Asia, Oceania, Europe, North America, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa   

Largest airports in Europe

1. Heathrow Airport (London)

Number of passengers: 83.9 million (2024)

• LHR’s passenger traffic makes it one of the busiest airports in the world, as well as in Europe
• It has two parallel east–west runways along with four operational terminals on a site that covers 12.27 square kilometres
• For security, the leading airport uses full-body scanners which highlight where passengers may conceal prohibited items

2. Istanbul Airport( Istanbul)

Number of passengers: 80.1 million (2024)

• The huge Istanbul airport terminal sprawls over a 1,440,000m² area and is considered the biggest terminal building worldwide, under one roof
• The airport covers an area of 76.5 million square metres and currently has three operational runways
• The airport features one terminal with five concourses providing extensive gate capacity for domestic and international flights

3. Charles de Gaulle Airport (Paris)

Number of passengers: 70.3 million (2024)

• CDG is the largest international airport in France
• It covers 32.38 square kilometres with 4 runways and 3 terminals
• Charles de Gaulle Airport has three terminals

4. Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (Amsterdam)

Number of passengers: 66.8 million (2024)

• AMS is located nine kilometres southwest of Amsterdam
• The airport design presents itself as a single-terminal concept: one large terminal split into three large departure halls
• Originally a military airbase, AMS has grown to become the primary airport of the Netherlands

5. Madrid-Barajas Airport (Spain)

Number of passengers: 66.2 million (2024)

• MAD is the main international airport serving Madrid in Spain
• Barajas has four runways positioned on two axes (north-south and northwest-southeast), allowing simultaneous takeoffs and landings with up to 120 operations per hour
• With its five passenger terminals—the airport has become one of the most important aviation centres of Europe

If you’ve lost your way passing through one of these airports or found yourself doing a 100-metre dash through their long terminals to make your flight, you won’t be surprised to find their names on our list.

In our recent article on how to plan a trip to Europe, we advised that avoiding popular airports would cut down your travel costs.

Travel can get awfully expensive. For many regular flyers, finding ways to reduce costs is a must. Consequently, when booking your next flight, you may want to source alternatives to these larger (and often more expensive) airports.

No way of avoiding passing through one of these airports? Give yourself enough time to make your scheduled departure.

Flight delays happen, but that doesn’t mean you have to accept them. You may be entitled to a much as £520 (€600) in compensation. If your flight was delayed, canceled, or overbooked within the last three years.