The Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in Delhi has emerged as the world’s ninth busiest airport in 2024, handling more than 7.78 crore passengers, according to data released by Airports Council International (ACI) on Tuesday. The airport improved its ranking by one spot from 2023, when it stood at 10th position.
The rankings are part of ACI’s annual list of the world’s 20 busiest airports, based on total passenger traffic, which includes both enplaned and deplaned passengers, with transiting passengers counted only once.
Leading the global list is Atlanta’s Hartsfield–Jackson airport in the United States, which processed over 10.8 crore passengers. It is followed by Dubai International Airport (9.23 crore) and Dallas/Fort Worth Airport in the US (8.78 crore).
“Global passenger traffic hit a new high in 2024, surpassing 9.4 billion travellers — up 8.4 per cent from 2023 and 2.7 per cent above pre-pandemic levels in 2019. The top 20 airports alone handled 1.54 billion passengers, accounting for 16 per cent of total global traffic,” ACI said in a statement.
Among other airports in the top 10 are Tokyo Haneda (4th), London Heathrow (5th), Denver (6th), Istanbul (7th), Chicago O’Hare (8th), and Shanghai Pudong (10th), which jumped 11 places from the previous year.
The United States contributed six airports to the top 20 rankings, largely driven by domestic travel, except for New York’s JFK Airport, where international traffic accounted for 56 per cent of total passengers.
Delhi airport also saw a rise in aircraft movements, ranking 15th globally in 2024 — two positions higher than in 2023 — with 4,77,509 flights taking off or landing. Atlanta again topped this category with over 7.96 lakh aircraft movements.
Globally, aircraft movements reached 100.6 million in 2024, marking a 3.9 per cent year-on-year rise and nearing 2019 levels at 96.8 per cent. The top 20 airports accounted for over 11 million of those movements, a 5.4 per cent increase from the previous year.
ACI, which represents 830 members operating 2,181 airports across 170 countries, said the figures highlight the aviation industry’s resilience and ongoing growth amid a complex global environment.
“The rankings reflect the scale of global aviation and the resilience of the industry that continues to grow,” said ACI World Director General Justin Erbacci.
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