Heathrow Airport
The Airports Council International (ACI) recently released its list of the busiest airports in the world. Once again, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) took the top spot, with more than 100 million passengers in 2015. According to the ACI, this represents an increase in traffic of over 5.5% over 2014. The trade group attributes Atlanta's success to its strategic location, where it is within a two-hour flight of 80% of the US population. In addition, the ACI credits the growth of ATL's largest tenant - Delta Air Lines - for the airport's continued expansion. Globally, the number of people traveling by air grew at a rate of 6.1% in 2015.
"It's impressive to witness the dynamic character of the aviation industry and its evolution over time," ACI World Director General Angela Gittens said in a statement. "Even in the most mature markets such as the United States and parts of Western Europe, several of the major hubs experienced year-over-year growth rates in passenger traffic that were well above the historical growth levels for these regions."
The trade group compiled its list using passenger-traffic data from 1,144 airports around the world.
Here are the 16 busiest airports in the world based on total passenger traffic: