USA Dominates The Top 10 World’s busiest airports by aircraft movements

1. Atlanta Aircraft movements: 470,725 Year on year: -1.3% About: It is a major hub airport for domestic US traffic and is the base of operations for Delta and AirTran, which is set to be acquired by Southwest. These factors help make Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta the world’s busiest airport, both in number of flights and passengers. The airport’s traffic peaked at 978,824 flights and 90 million passengers in calendar 2008. 

2. Chicago Aircraft movements: 427,107 Year on year: 4.5% About: Chicago handled the second highest number of flights in the first half and its appeal as a hub airport will ensure it continues to do well. A multi-billion dollar redevelopment project, designed to increase capacity and reduce delays caused by bad weather, is ongoing. 

3. Dallas Total aircraft movements: 321,155 Year on year growth: 2.9% About: Dallas Fort Worth is the major hub airport of American Airlines, which flew 66 million domestic passengers in 2009. The airport handled 638,782 flights and 56,030,457 passengers last year. 

4. Denver Total aircraft movements: 307,100 Year on year growth: 2.3% About: Denver claims to be the largest airport by land area in the US and it acts as the main hub for Frontier Airlines and Great Lakes Airlines as well as a major hub for United Airlines and Southwest. It uses solar panels to generate a portion of its energy and is known for the various works of art dotted around its buildings.

5. Los Angeles (LAX) Total aircraft movements: 284,572 Year on year growth: 5.8% About: As the gateway to the state of California, LAX is always busy. It handled 284,572 flights in the first half, year on year growth of 5.7%. The airport is a major hub for United, Alaska and American Airlines and is a key destination for Southwest, Qantas and Virgin.

6. Houston (IAH) Total aircraft movements: 262,670 Year on year growth: -1.9% About: George Bush Intercontinental serves the Greater Houston area of the US state of Texas. In addition to connections to domestic US cities, it also serves Central and South America and the Middle East. Qatar and Emirates are amongst the international airlines that use the airport.

7. Charlotte Total aircraft movements: 254,517 Year on year growth: -0.4% About: Charlotte Douglas International Airport is a joint civil-military airport located in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is a hub airport for US Airways’ domestic traffic.

8. Beijing Total aircraft movements: 251,607 Year on year growth: 5.7% About: Propelled by the country’s economic growth, Beijing continues to handle more and more planes and passengers. It was tenth on this list in 2009 after handling 488,495 plane movements during the year. Based on these half year figures, it is set to climb a couple of places in 2010.

9. Las Vegas (LAS) Total aircraft movements: 247,075 Year on year growth: -2.5% About: McCarran International (LAS) is the main airport serving the US city of Las Vegas. The airport has four runways and serves as a major base of operations for Allegiant Air and Southwest Airlines. It has four runways and two passenger terminals. 

10. Paris Total aircraft movements: 242,15 Year on year growth: -7.9% About: Aircraft movements dropped 7.9% in the first half, but Air France and the country’s international status continue to keep the airport in the top ten. The French flag carrier flew 48 million domestic and international passengers in 2009, making it one of the world’s ten largest airlines.