The United States is home to the world’s busiest airport.
Driving the news: Airports Council International released the 2021 rankings of the world’s busiest airports, according to CNN.
- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport — ATL — ranked at the top of the list, per The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
- Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in China, which was No. 1 the previous year, was dropped to No. 8 on the list.
- The Atlanta airport was No. 1 for 22 years before 2020, when Guangzhou the No. 1 spot, CNN reports.
- Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport ranked No. 2 on the list with 62.6 million passengers in 2021.
By the numbers: The Atlanta airport had 75.7 million passengers in 2021, which is 76% higher than in 2020, the year the COVID-19 pandemic began, according to CNN.
- The 75.7 million passengers in 2021 is 32% lower than pre-pandemic levels, too.
The bigger picture: Airports in the United States made up eight of the 10 spots on the list, according to CNBC.
- These 2021 rankings “tell the story of an encouraging trend of recovery, with most of the recurrent busiest airports pre-COVID-19 back at the top,” said ACI World Director General Luis Felipe de Oliveira in a statement, per The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
- “Although we are cautious that recovery could face multiple headwinds, the momentum created by reopening plans by countries could lead to an uptick in travel in the second half of 2022,” de Oliveira said.