World's Busiest International Airports

Airports are a place of exciting fascination for many geographers. They are places representing many ideas of geography all in one: the wonders of aviation and air travel, international and domestic travel, globalization, global interconnectedness, transportation and tourism geography, and they are also interesting to geographers who study human impact on the landscape. Airports are somewhat like mini-cities. At any rate, here is a list of the top thirty busiest airports in the world in 2007 by passenger traffic. For each entry, I list the name of the airport, the city, state, and country, the number of passengers passing through the airport in 2007, and the airline that operates a major hub at that particular airport:

Hartsfield-Jackson-Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Atlanta, Georgia, USA

1. Hartsfield-Jackson-Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Atlanta, Georgia, USA - 89,379,287 - Delta Airlines, Air Tran Airways
2. O'Hare International Airport (ORD), Chicago, Illinois, USA - 76,159,324 - United Airlines, American Airlines
3. London Heathrow Airport (LHR), London, England, UK - 68,068,554 - British Airways, BMI, Virgin Atlantic
4. Tokyo-Haneda International Airport (HND), Tokyo, Japan - 66,671,435 - Japan Air Lines, All Nippon Airways
5. Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Los Angeles, California, USA - 61,895,548 - Delta Airlines, United Airlines
6. Charles de Gaulle International Airport (CDG), near Paris, France - 59,919,383 - Air France
7. Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, USA - 59,784,876 - American Airlines
8. Frankfurt Airport (FRA), Frankfurt am Main, Germany - 54,161,856 - Lufthansa
9. Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK), Chaoyang, Beijing, People's Republic of China - 53,736,923 - Air China, China Southern Airlines
10. Madrid Barajas International Airport (MAD), Barajas, Madrid, Spain - 52,122,214 - Iberia
11. Denver International Airport (DEN), Denver, Colorado, USA - 49,863,389 - United Airlines, Frontier Airlines
12. John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), Queens, New York City, USA - 47,810,630 - Delta Airlines, Jet Blue Airways, American Airlines
13. Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS), The Netherlands - 47,793,602 - KLM/Royal Dutch Airlines, Northwest Airlines
14. McCarran International Airport (LAS), Las Vegas, Nevada, USA - 47,595,140 - U.S. Airways, Southwest Airlines
15. Hong Kong International Airport (HKG), Hong Kong SAR, People's Republic of China - 46,995,000 - Cathay Pacific, Dragon Air
16. George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), Houston, Texas, USA - 42,978,617 - Continental Airlines
17. Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX), Phoenix, Arizona, USA - 42,197,080 - U.S. Airways, Southwest Airlines
18. Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK), Bangkok, Thailand - 41,210,081 - Thai Airways International, Bangkok Airways, Orient Thai Airlines
19. Singapore Changi Airport (SIN), Changi, Singapore - 36,701,556 - Singapore Airlines
20. Orlando International Airport (MCO), Orlando, Florida, USA - 36,480,416 - Southwest Airlines, Delta Airlines
21. Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), Newark, New Jersey, USA - 36,391,911 - Continental Airlines
22. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW), Romulus, Michigan, USA - 36,126,555 - Northwest Airlines
23. San Francisco International Airport (SFO), San Mateo County, California, USA - 35,793,117 - United Airlines
24. Tokyo-Narita International Airport (NRT), Narita, Chiba, Japan - 35,530,035 - Japan Air Lines, All Nippon Airways, Northwest Airlines
25. London Gatwick Airport (LGW), Crawley, England, UK - 35,218,399 - British Airways
26. Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP), Fort Snelling, Minnesota, USA - 35,160,505 - Northwest Airlines
27. Dubai International Airport (DXB), Dubai, United Arab Emirates - 34,348,110 - Emirates
28. Munich-Franz Josef Strauss Airport (MUN), Munich, Bavaria, Germany - 33,959,422 - Lufthansa
29. Miami International Airport (MIA), Miami, Florida, USA - 33,740,416 - American Airlines
30. Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT), Charlotte, North Carolina, USA - 33,383,812 - U.S. Airways

Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), Dallas, Texas, USA