Business
Business

Atlanta airport retains ‘world’s busiest’ crown in 2024

Hartsfield-Jackson saw 108.1 million passengers last year, expects to reach 125 million soon
Crowds streamed into Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on June 28, 2024. The airport was once again named the world's busiest for last year's traffic. (Staff / the AJC)

Credit: John Spink

Credit: John Spink

Crowds streamed into Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on June 28, 2024. The airport was once again named the world's busiest for last year's traffic. (Staff / the AJC)
By Emma Hurt
April 14, 2025

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International has again been named the world’s busiest airport, just as it has nearly every year in the past quarter century.

The airport, which is celebrating its 100th year this week, saw 108.1 million passengers last year. That’s up from 104.7 million in 2023, according to preliminary data from industry group Airports Council International World released Monday.

Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines and its subsidiaries represented 78% of the airport’s 2024 traffic.

ExploreHow Atlanta's airport became the world's busiest

Hartsfield-Jackson has been the world’s busiest airport since 1998, except in 2020 during COVID-19 when an airport in Guangzhou, China, surpassed it.

In 2024, Dubai International landed in the No. 2 spot with 92.3 million passengers, followed by Dallas/Fort Worth International with 87.8 million.

Atlanta’s 2024 passenger total was still 2.2% below its 2019 record of 110 million, but airport officials say that will change.

They expect to hit an annual mark of 125 million passengers within the next five years.

About the Author

As a business reporter, Emma Hurt leads coverage of the Atlanta airport, Delta Air Lines, UPS, Norfolk Southern and other travel and logistics companies. Prior to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution she worked as an editor and Atlanta reporter for Axios, a politics reporter for WABE News and a business reporter for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

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