Some experts in international affairs believe that the best way to determine the global value of a country and the number of foreigners entering it is to look at its airports! Accordingly, in this post, we decided to investigate the biggest airports in the world
In recent years, the demand for international flights has increased significantly. (Of course, with the exception of the two years when the world was afflicted by Corona). Because of this, airports are turning into small but very busy cities!
The Biggest Airports in the World in Terms of Area
One of the criteria by which we can determine the size of an airport is its total area. In the table below, you will get to know the 10 biggest airports in the world when it comes to their area:
| Rank | Airport | Area | City | Country |
| 1 | King Fahd International Airport | 776 km2 | Dammam | Saudi Arabia
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| 2 | Denver International Airport | 135.7 km2 | Denver | United States
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| 3 | Dallas Fort Worth International Airport | 69.6 km2 | Dallas | United States
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| 4 | Orlando International Airport | 53.8 km2 | Orlando | United States |
| 5 | Washington Dulles International Airport | 48.6 km2 | Washington D.C | United States |
| 6 | Beijing International Airport | 46.6 km2 | Beijing | China |
| 7 | George Bush Intercontinental Airport | 44.5 km2 | Houston | United States
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| 8 | Shanghai International Airport | 39.9 km2 | Shanghai | China
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| 9 | Cairo International Airport | 36.3 km2 | Cairo | Egypt |
| 10 | Suvarnabhumi International Airport | 32.4 km2 | Bangkok | Thailand |
As you can see, King Fahd Airport, located in the city of Dammam in Saudi Arabia, is the biggest airport in the world with an incredible area of 776 square kilometers.
Another notable thing that can be seen in this list is that 5 of the world’s largest airports are located in the United States of America.
The Biggest Airports in the world in Terms of the Number of Passengers
Now it’s time to check the world’s biggest airports based on the number of passengers flying through. In the table below, you will get to know the 10 busiest and biggest airports in the world.
| Rank | Area | No. of Passengers | City | Country |
| 1 | Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport | 75.7 million | Atlanta | United States
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| 2 | Dallas Fort Worth International Airport | 62.4 million | Dallas | United States
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| 3 | Denver International Airport | 58.3 million | Denver | United States
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| 4 | Chicago O’Hare International Airport | 58 million | Chicago | United States
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| 5 | Los Angeles International Airport | 48 million | Los Angeles | United States
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| 6 | Charlotte Douglas International Airport | 43.2 million | Charlotte | United States
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| 7 | Orlando International Airport | 40.3 million | Orlando | United States
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| 8 | Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport | 40.2 million | Guangzhou | China
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| 9 | Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport | 40.1 million | Shuangliu–Wuhou | China
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| 10 | Harry Reid International Airport | 39.7 million | Las Vegas | United States |
The information in the table above tells us that Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in the United States of America is currently the world’s biggest airport with 75 million annual passengers in 2022.
Here, 8 of the 10 biggest airports in the world are located in the United States of America. This shows that currently, this country accounts for a large part of international travel.
A Look at the 10 Biggest Airports in the World
In the first section of this guide, we reviewed the list of the world’s largest airports by area. In this section, we want to introduce each of these 10 airports individually and have a quick overview.
1-Suvarnabhumi International Airport – Thailand
This airport was opened in 2006 in Bangkok, Thailand. With an area of more than 32 square kilometers, Suvarnabhumi is the biggest airport in Southeast Asia. Currently, more than 95 airlines are operating in this airport. It is interesting to know that the name Suvarnabhumi in Sanskrit means “land of gold”!
2-Cairo International Airport – Egypt
Cairo Airport, known as the main airport of Egypt, was opened in 1963. This airport currently has 3 main terminals. Cairo International Airport, with an area of more than 37 km, is considered the largest airport in Africa. It is interesting to know that this airport ranks second in the continent in terms of the number of passengers that fly through.
3-Shanghai International Airport
Shanghai International Airport is the second largest airport in China (after Beijing International Airport) and with an annual traffic of 35 million passengers, it is also one of the busiest airports in this country!
This airport has 6 runways and 3 passenger terminals. Shanghai airport has an area of more than 40 km and it seems that in the coming years, the traffic of passengers will increase.
4-George Bush Intercontinental Airport
The airport opened in 1969 as Houston Intercontinental Airport and was renamed in 1997 after the 41st President of the United States, George HW Bush. George Bush Airport, located in the state of Texas, has 5 operational runways and more than 45 million passengers travel through it annually making it one of the biggest airports in the world.
5-Beijing International Airport
Beijing Daxing International Airport, nicknamed the Star of the Sea for its impressive single-building airport terminal, which is the largest airport terminal in the world, covers 46.6 square kilometers.
This airport was opened in 2019 and if it did not coincide with the Corona epidemic; it would also be the busiest airport in the world! Beijing Airport now has flights to 120 destinations around the world. Beijing Dexing International Airport is considered to be environmentally friendly and has water management systems, solar panels, and waste heat recovery systems, thus limiting the airport’s impact on the environment.
6-Washington Dulles International Airport
Washington Dulles International Airport, named after John Foster Dulles, the 52nd Secretary of State of the United States, opened in 1962. Its area is 52.6 square kilometers or 20.3 square miles and about 60,000 passengers fly through it daily to more than 125 destinations around the world making it of the biggest airports in the world.
7-Orlando International Airport
Located in Florida, this airport handles more than 50 million passengers annually throughout the United States and the world. With an area of more than 53 km, it is easily included in the list of the largest airports in the world.
Orlando International Airport currently has flights to more than 135 global destinations. In addition, it has 50 restaurants and 60 large and luxurious shopping centers.
8-Dallas International Airport
This airport is located between the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth and occupies an area of more than 70 square kilometers (more than Manhattan Island!). This airport was opened in 1973 and became the fourth busiest airport in the world with more than 75 million passengers in 2019. Of course, this figure has decreased to 62.4 million.
9-Denver International Airport
The second place of the world’s biggest airports belongs to Denver International Airport, which was opened in 1995. This airport occupies an area of more than 135 square kilometers!
This airport has flights to more than 215 destinations around the world and to move inside the airport, you need to use the automated train system. Denver is the largest airport in the United States and has beautiful views of the Rocky Mountains to the west.
10- Malek Fahd International Airport
Well, we finally reached the Biggest airport in the world in terms of size. King Fahd International Airport is located near the city of Dammam in Saudi Arabia and its area is more than 775 square kilometers!
It is interesting to know that this airport was built on the land that used to be the former air base of the United States during the Persian Gulf War! Another interesting point is that King Fahd Airport, which is named after the former king of Saudi Arabia (Fahd bin Abdulaziz), only has flights to 45 destinations and its annual traffic is less than 10 million passengers!
An Overview of the Busiest Airports in the World
In the following, we are going to check the 10 biggest airports in the world in terms of traffic.
1- Harry Reid International Airport
Harry Reid International Airport, formerly called McLaren, is located in Nevada and has both military and civilian uses. This airport is known as the main airport of Las Vegas. In 2022, this airport handled a total of 39,754,366 passengers (nearly 40 million people), which made it the 10th busiest airport in the world.
2- Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport
This airport is one of the important aviation hubs in western China and the third busiest center in Sichuan province. With an annual traffic of more than 40 million passengers, Chengdu Shuangliu is listed as one of the biggest airports in the world in terms of traffic.
3- Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport
Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport is the main airport of Guangzhou (the capital of China’s Guangdong Province) and the largest transportation hub in China. This airport has handled more than 40 million passengers in 2022!
It is interesting to know that in 2021, the number of passengers at this airport decreased by 8% compared to 2020! Of course, considering the spread of Corona, this was predictable.
4- Charlotte Douglas International Airport
Charlotte Douglas International Airport, located in North Carolina, is another dual-use airport that serves both civilian and military aircraft. The interesting thing about this airport is that it is managed with complete independence from the financial point of view.
The passenger traffic figures of this airport in 2022 increased by 59.2% compared to the figures for 2021 and reached 43.2 million passengers last year.
5- Los Angeles International Airport
Before the Corona epidemic, Los Angeles International Airport was the third busiest airport in the world and more than 88 million passengers passed through its gates.
Its location on the west coast makes this airport a very important hub and gateway for many international destinations around the world, especially in Asia and the Pacific.
6- Chicago O’Hare International Airport
This airport, like the Los Angeles International Airport, faced a decrease in traffic in 2022 due to the Corona epidemic. Chicago Airport is important because this city (O’Hare), which is located in the northwest of Chicago, is one of the most important transportation centers in the United States of America.
7- Dallas Fort Worth International Airport
Not surprisingly, the world’s third largest airport by area, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport is also one of the world’s busiest (Before the corona epidemic, it was in 10th place). The airport is the largest hub for American Airlines, which is why it experienced a significant increase in passengers as more Americans began to travel within the US!
8- Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport was the busiest airport in the world before the outbreak of the Corona pandemic, and it still holds this title by a wide margin over its competitors.
Since this airport is located in the Atlanta area of Georgia (where most air travel to Europe takes place), this high passenger traffic seems quite natural. This airport was named the busiest airport in the world for the first time in 1998, and it has retained its rank through the pandemic and even after.
FAQs
What is the world’s biggest airport by area?
King Fahd Airport located in Dammam in Saudi Arabia, with an area of more than 775 square kilometers, is the largest airport in the world.
Which is the biggest airport in the world in terms of traffic?
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport located in the United States of America is the busiest airport in the world with more than 75 million passengers
Final Word
Airports are always some of the most important places in any country and will continue to be in the near future. In this article, we reviewed the biggest airports in the world.