Busiest airports in the United States 2022

The busiest airports in the United States are recovering from the aviation crisis caused by Covid, returning to the top of the world’s busiest airports. In a list recently published by ACI (Airports Council International) for the year 2021, 8 of America’s airports are in the top 10 busiest airports in the world. With that said, let’s take a look at the busiest airports in America.

Top 8 busiest airports in the United States

8. Harry Reid International Airport (Las Vegas) LAS
9. Orlando International Airport (MCO)
10. Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT)
11. Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
12. O’Hare International Airport (Chicago) ORD
13. Denver International Airport (DEN)
14. Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW)
15. Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)

8. Harry Reid International Airport (Las Vegas)

Las Vegas International Airport, named Harry Reid International Airport had 39.8 million passengers in 2021. It grew massively from the previous year, 2020, when only 10.1 million people were at the airport (an increase of 294%). Harry Reid Airport is the main government airport in the Las Vegas Valley. According to Wikipedia, in December 2021 this airport was renamed after United States Senator Harry Reid, who represented Nevada in the Senate until 2017.

7. Orlando International Airport

Orlando International Airport (MCO) has the highest growth in 2021 over 2020 of any airport worldwide, an 300% increase. If in the year of the pandemic this airport was transited by 10 million passengers, in 2021 40 million people have passed through this airport. MCO serves as a hub (transfer points to take passengers to their final destination) for Silver Airways and is the operational base for multiple major airlines: JetBlue, Southwest Airlines and Spirit Airlines. However, Southwest Airlines carries the most passengers at the airport.

6. Charlotte Douglas International Airport

Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) is the 6th busiest airport in the United States with 43.3 million passengers in 2021. It experienced a 233% increase over the previous year. The majority of passengers at this airport are carried by American Airlines. Moreover, a total number of 520,000 take-offs and landings took place at this airport in 2021.

5. Los Angeles International Airport

A total of 48 million people passed through Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in 2021. This is the main airport serving Los Angeles, the largest city in Claifornia. Although compared to 2020 LAX saw a 67% growth, compared to 2019 this airport saw a 45% decrease. According to worldatlas, approximately 50% of the airport’s passengers are outbound passengers.

4. O’Hare International Airport

O’Hare International Airport (ORD) is the main airport serving Chicago, Illinois’ most populous city. It was transited by a total of 54 million passengers in 2021, a whopping 260% increase over 2020. Moreover, ORD is the second busiest airport in the world by number of aircraft takeoffs and landings (684,201). This airport became famous in the 1960s when it won the record for the busiest airport in the world which it held until 1998, according to Wikipedia.

3. Denver International Airport

Denver International Airport (DEN) is the third busiest airport in the United States in 2021. It was transited by a total of 58.8 million passengers, a massive 246% increase over the previous year, 2020. This airport serves Colorado’s largest city, Denver, and is the largest airport in the United States. However, even though it has so many passengers, this airport opened in 1995 and is Colorado’s largest employer with 35,000 employees.

2. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport

A total of 62.5 million passengers passed through Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) in 2021. This is the main airport serving the North Texas region. Compared to 2020, when only 18.5 million passengers passed through the airport, in 2021 that number increased by 238%. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport is the largest hub for American Airlines and opened in 1973.

1. Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the busiest airport in the United States and in the world. A total of 75.7 million people passed through the Atlanta Airport in 2021. This record of the busiest airport in the world has been held by Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport for many years, only in 2020 the record was held by an airport in China due to the covid epidemic. The airport is named after two former Atlanta majors, William B. Hartsfield and Maynard Jackson and holds multiple records. For instance, the highest number of aircraft takeoffs and landings in 2021 were at this airport and over 1000 flights per day are completed here. Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is the main airport for the city of Atlanta and is the main hub for Delta Air Lines.

Slowly but surely, aviation around the world is recovering and is on an upward slope. As this top of the busiest airports in the United States shows us, soon all will be back to normal in aviation, and even more, there are hopes that in the future everything in aviation will increase dramatically.