The Airports Council International (ACI) World has published its preliminary world airport traffic rankings – covering passenger traffic, cargo volumes, and aircraft movements for 2020 – showing the dramatic impact of COVID-19 on what are ordinarily the world’s busiest airports.
According to the preliminary data published this week, Guangzhou Bai Yun International Airport in China recorded the most passenger traffic in 2020, with Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in the United States just behind.

Seven of the top 10 airports for passenger traffic are in China with three in the United States
PASSENGERS* | |||||
2020 | 2019 | AIRPORT | 2020 | 2019 | Percent change |
1 | 11 | GUANGZHOU, CN (CAN) | 43 767 558 | 73 394 810 | -40.4 |
2 | 1 | ATLANTA GA, US (ATL) | 42 918 685 | 110 531 300 | -61.2 |
3 | 24 | CHENGDU, CN (CTU) | 40 741 509 | 55 858 552 | -27.1 |
4 | 10 | DALLAS/FORT WORTH TX, US (DFW) | 39 364 990 | 75 066 956 | -47.6 |
5 | 26 | SHENZHEN, CN (SZX) | 37 916 054 | 52 931 925 | -28.4 |
6 | 2 | BEIJING, CN (PEK) | 34 513 827 | 100 013 642 | -65.5 |
7 | 16 | DENVER CO, US (DEN) | 33 741 129 | 69 015 703 | -51.1 |
8 | 37 | KUNMING, CN (KMG) | 32 990 805 | 48 076 238 | -31.4 |
9 | 46 | SHANGHAI, CN (SHA) | 31 165 641 | 45 637 882 | -31.7 |
10 | 40 | XI’AN, CN (XIY) | 31 073 924 | 47 220 745 | -34.2 |
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