Atlanta claimed the world's busiest airport title again, according to the Airports Council International, which announced last week that passenger traffic at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport increased by 5.5 percent in 2015.
Airports Council International, the trade association of the world’s airports, collects comprehensive data for more than 2,300 airports in 160 countries worldwide. Hartsfield-Jackson handled 101.4 million passengers in 2015, distancing second place Beijing Capital International Airport, which handled 89.9 million passengers, according to the council.
The big mover in the survey was the Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates, which had a 10.7 percent increase in passengers to 78 million to come in third place, replacing London's Heathrow Airport. Heathrow, with 74.9 million in 2015, saw only a 2.2 percent increase, dropping it from third place to sixth.
Chicago O'Hare International Airport also saw a significant jump, handling 9.8 more passengers from 2014 to 2015, totaling 76.8 million overall, moving up in the ranking from seventh to fourth place.
Angela Gittens, the Airports Council International's director general, said in a statement that while the busiest airport continued to get more traffic, it is likely coming at the loss of traffic at smaller airports, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
"The downside of airline capacity shifts towards major connecting hubs in certain markets is that smaller regional airports lose out on traffic with a reduction in nonstop destinations between cities," Gittens said.
Former Hartsfield-Jackson general manager Miguel Southwell, who was fired in May, told the local media in February to refer to the airport as the "world's most traveled" instead of busiest, because of the negative connotations, CNN reported.
The new survey, though, noted that Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta is not No. 1 in all categories. Dubai is the busiest airport via international passenger traffic. Hong Kong International Airport is the busiest airport for international freight traffic. Memphis International Airport, home of FedEx's global hub, is the nation's top domestic freight airport.
The U.S. has the world's top four airports for total aircraft movements, led by Hartsfield-Jackson (882,497), Chicago O'Hare (875,136), Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (681,247), and Los Angeles International Airport (655,564).
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