World's busiest airport

World's busiest airport is a claim that is fiercely fought over by the owners of the world's largest airports. The definition of busiest has been specified by the Airports Council International in Geneva, Switzerland. [cite web
url=http://www.airports.org/cda/aci_common/display/main/aci_content07_c.jsp?zn=aci&cp=1-5-54_666_2__
title=Airports Welcome Record 4.4 Billion Passengers in 2006
publisher=Airports Council International
accessdate=2008-06-13] The ACI defines and measures the following 3 types of airport traffic:
* Passenger Traffic- total passengers enplaned and deplaned, passengers in transit counted once. [cite web
url=http://www.airports.org/cda/aci_common/display/main/aci_content07_c.jsp?zn=aci&cp=1-5-54-55_666_2__
title=Passenger Traffic 2007 Preliminary
publisher=Airports Council International
accessdate=2008-06-13]
* Cargo Traffic- loaded and unloaded freight and mail in metric tonnes. [cite web
url=http://www.airports.org/cda/aci_common/display/main/aci_content07_c.jsp?zn=aci&cp=1-5-54-4819_666_2__
title=Cargo Traffic 2007 Preliminary
publisher=Airports Council International
accessdate=2008-06-13]
* Traffic Movements- landings and take-offs of aircraft.cite web
url=http://www.airports.org/cda/aci_common/display/main/aci_content07_c.jsp?zn=aci&cp=1-5-54-57_666_2__
title=Traffic Movements 2007 Preliminary
publisher=Airports Council International
accessdate=2008-06-13]

The following airports have variously made claims (or had claims made for them):

The World's Busiest Airports

The following airports make claims based on objective volume measures that are well defined and widely accepted within the aviation industry:

*Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Atlanta, Georgia, United States:Largest number of passengers annually. (1998–2008) [cite web |url=http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?ContentBlockID=7dc5a99c-a97a-4fa9-9f49-6f3d678adad5 |title=Atlanta Hartsfield Earns 'World's Busiest' Title Once Again |accessdate=2008-03-07 |publisher=Aero-News Network] :Most arrivals and departures ("operations") annually. (1999–2000, 2005–2007). [cite web |url=http://www.aci.aero/cda/aci_common/display/main/aci_content07_c.jsp?zn=aci&cp=1-5-54-57_666_2__ |title=Traffic Movements 2006 FINAL |accessdate=2008-03-07 |date=2007-07-18 |publisher=Airports Council International] In 2007, Hartsfield again set the world's record for most aircraft movements in one year with 994,346. [cite web
url=http://www.atlanta-airport.com/sublevels/airport_info/pdfs/Traffic/200712.pdf
title=Year-to-Date Airport Traffic Report
month=December
year=2007
accessdate=2008-06-13
publisher=Department of Aviation, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport] :Most destinations served. [cite news |url=http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2007-01-04-nations-busiest-airport_x.htm |title=FAA: Atlanta airport is nation's busiest |accessdate=2008-03-07 |work=USATODAY.com |date=2007-04-01]

*Memphis International Airport, Memphis, Tennessee, United States :Most cargo traffic by volume annually. (1993–2006) [cite news |url=http://www.aircargonews.net/article.asp?art_id=1735 |title=Memphis takes cargo top spot in 2006 |accessdate=2008-03-07 |date=2007-03-12 |work=Air Cargo News]

Other current claims

The following airports also make claims based on objective measures, but some of the claims are based on traffic classification:

*London Heathrow Airport, London, United Kingdom:Largest number of international passengers annually (2004–present) [cite web |url=http://www.heathrowairport.com/assets/B2CPortal/Static%20Files/TopAirports04.pdf |title=Top ten world airports - 2004 |accessdate=2008-03-07 |format=PDF]
*Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles, California, United States:Largest number of "origin and destination" (non-connecting) passengers annually (2001–present) [Citation | last = Fine | first = Howard | title = LAX emerges as worst U.S.: Airport design Ill-suited for new security screenings - Los Angeles International Airport | newspaper = Los Angeles Business Journal | year = 2001 | date = 2001-11-26 | url = http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m5072/is_48_23/ai_88698673 | accessdate = 2008-04-22 "What's more, LAX has become the world's busiest airport in numbers of arriving and departing passengers. "Other airports may have more passengers going through, but we have more arrivals and departures' said Nancy Castles, spokeswoman for Los Angeles World Airports, the L.A. city agency that operates LAX. "That means more passengers to screen than any other airport."]
*Van Nuys Airport, Los Angeles, California, United States:World's busiest general aviation airport (take-offs and landings annually).Fact|date=May 2008
*Frankfurt International Airport, Frankfurt am Main, Germany:Most international destinations served.

Historical claims

*Chicago Midway International Airport, Chicago, Illinois, United States:Held from 1932 until O'Hare took the title in 1962, Midway was the world's busiest airport by passenger and aircraft movements. Before World War II, Chicago Midway was the origin or destination of one in four U.S. airline flights. [cite web |url=http://www.thetracon.com/Region%20leads%20the%20way%20in%20flight.htm |title=Region leads the way in flight |accessdate=2008-03-07 |date=1999-07-18 |author=Michelle Mullins]
*Chicago O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, Illinois, United States:Largest number of passengers annually (before 1998):Most arrivals and departures annually (before 1998, 2001–2004).:O'Hare Airport is currently declining in all categories of volume: passengers, cargo and movements.
*Tokyo International Airport, Tokyo, Japan (popularly known as Haneda Airport):The world's busiest domestic-only airport until service to Seoul started. Busiest airport in Japan and Asia.
*Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, Shanghai, People's Republic of China:The worlds busiest domestic-only airport until service began to Tokyo in October 2007. It only handles 19.3 million passengers, but only defeated Chicago Midway International Airport by around 0.5 million passengers. The international passenger services are served by Shanghai Pudong International Airport, which handles around 60% of the traffic within Shanghai. It is 15th busiest in Asia and 62nd busiest in the world.

ee also

*World's busiest airports by traffic movements
*World's busiest airports by passenger traffic
*World's busiest airports by international passenger traffic
*World's busiest airports by cargo traffic
*World's busiest passenger air routes
*World's largest airlines

References

External links

* [http://www.airports.org/ Airports Council International website.] A representative industry body for the airport industry that provides air travel statistics.