Airports Council International (ACI) World has released the top 10 busiest airports in the world for 2021, showing encouraging signs of traffic recovery.

The World Airport Rankings are based on the preliminary compilation of 2021 World Airports data from around the world.

Air freight, which has been less impacted by COVID-19, saw its volumes increase by almost 15% year-on-year (+3.5% compared to 2019), reaching an estimated record to 124 million metric tons in 2021.

Air cargo volumes at the top 10 airports, collectively representing approximately 25% (34.2 million metric tons) of global volumes in 2021, increased 12.4% in 2021 year-over-year (or 15.0% compared to 2019 results).

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The gain can be attributed to the continued increase in demand for online consumer goods and pharmaceuticals.

Hong Kong International Airport (HKG, 5.0m MT, +12.5%) regained the top spot and Memphis International Airport (MEM, 4.5m MT, -2, 9%) returned to second place, followed by Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG, 4.0 million metric tons, +8.0%) in third.

ACI World estimates that there were more than 69 million aircraft movements worldwide in 2021, a gain of more than 12% compared to 2020. The top 10 airports account for nearly 8% of global traffic ( 5.3 million movements) and saw a gain of 33.9% year-on-year, still representing a decrease of 16.1% compared to 2019.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL, 708,000 movements, +29.1%) leads the way, followed by Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD, 684,000, +27.1%) and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW, 652,000, +26.7%). All of the top 10 airports for aircraft movements are in the United States.

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