Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport was named the busiest airport in the world for the second consecutive year, with the number of passengers transported over the course of 2023 closely approaching pre-pandemic numbers measured four years prior.
In a report released by international flight data provider OAG earlier this month, Hartsfield-Jackson once again placed first on the company’s list of the world’s ten busiest global airports, making this the airport’s third time topping the company’s annual end-of-year ranking over the past five years.
According to the report, the Atlanta airport managed enough flights in 2023 to accommodate more than 61 million passengers, a metric that increased by about 12% since the year before.
Meanwhile, Hartsfield-Jackson was shy of its 2019 flight capacity performance by just 3%, suggesting that the airport has almost witnessed a complete recovery from the loss of travel incited by the pandemic in 2020.
John Grant, chief analyst at OAG, said in a statement discussing the report’s findings that resolving widespread supply chain issues is necessary to restore airline and airport activity all over the country to pre-pandemic levels.
“Domestic travel in the U.S. remains competitive,” Grant said. “Navigating ongoing supply chain challenges successfully will be key for airlines and airports in the U.S. looking to attract more passengers and get capacity levels back to where they were in 2019.”
Dallas Fort Worth International Airport was the only other airport in America to make OAG’s top five, dropping two spots from the ranking in 2022 to land in fifth place this year. Denver International, Los Angeles International and Chicago O’Hare International round out the list’s top ten, ranking sixth, eighth and ninth, respectively.
Atlanta also made three appearances on OAG’s list of the busiest domestic routes in America this year, with the city’s connection to Orlando falling less than 100,000 total airline seats short of the list’s highest-ranking route, Hololulu, Hawaii, to Kahului Airport, the primary airport on Maui, Hawaii’s second-largest island. Routes from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale, Florida and New York’s LaGuardia Airport placed seventh and ninth in the ranking.
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