Airports Council International, a global trade association for airports, ranked Atlanta’s Hartsfield-International and its more than 106 million passengers, as the busiest in the globe. That was followed by Dubai International, with around 95 million, and Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, with around 92 million.
DFW’s fourth place ranking actually represented a slight dip: In ACI’s 2024 rankings, DFW ranked as third busiest, with around 2.5 million more total passengers than in 2025. In 2021 and 2022, DFW ranked as the world’s second busiest, behind only Hartsfield-Jackson, although in 2019 DFW ranked 10th.
"This is not unexpected," Katie Chaumont, a DFW Airport spokesperson, wrote to The News in an email, referring to the airport's one position drop, "as rankings can shift year to year based on global travel patterns, airline schedules and regional recovery trends."
Chaumont added that the new rankings "continue to reflect the post-COVID normalization of international travel," which has included strong rebounds from the Asia-Pacific and Middle Eastern markets, and that DFW "is focused on sustained growth through major investments in infrastructure and customer experience," including a comprehensive $12 billion renovation project.
In a statement, Justin Erbacci, director general of ACI World, a division of ACI, congratulated the airports atop the list for “managing growing air travel demand amid increasing operational complexity.” He added that global governments “must prioritize sustained investment in airports” to keep pace with that rising travel demand.
The group’s highly watched new ranking comes amid a particularly turbulent time for air travel both in the U.S. and globally. American airports have lately been snarled by TSA delays stemming from the government shutdown, and flight patterns have suffered disruptions from the war in Iran. Last year, U.S. air travel also suffered from multiple high-profile crashes and communications meltdowns, while the Trump Administration’s unprecedented tariffs wreaked havoc on global manufacturing supply chains.
In ACI’s new rankings, DFW also ranked third in the world for aircraft movements, which measures takeoffs and landings, behind Chicago’s O’Hare and Hartsfield-Jackson. DFW did not rank in the top 10 for cargo traffic or international passengers.
The new rankings were provisional, ACI noted, and will be finalized in July.
