London Heathrow has regained its spot as fourth-busiest airport globally. The latest Airports Council International (ACI) table for passenger numbers in 2023 shows the UK’s biggest hub overtaking Denver, Chicago O’Hare and Istanbul to move from seventh to fourth. With 79.
2 million passengers last year, Heathrow is 3 per cent below Dallas-Fort Worth in third place, and 9 per cent down on Dubai in second. Dubai remains well ahead in terms of international passengers: almost all its almost-87 million travellers are arriving or departing from another country. But Atlanta, 24 per cent ahead of Heathrow, retains its commanding lead as the only airport in the world with more than 100 million passengers in a year.
During 2023, a total of 104.7 people passed through – most of them in transit between US domestic flights. The Georgia hub is the main base for Delta, the world’s biggest airline by revenue.
Last month Heathrow experienced its busiest day ever, with more than 268,000 passengers passing through on 30 June. Its year-on-year passenger figure is 81.9 million for the 12 months from July 2023.
In the table, Heathrow is just ahead of a host of other big airports: Tokyo Haneda, Denver, Istanbul and Los Angeles. The closest Continental European airport is Paris CDG in ninth place, with 67.4 million.
While that was one-sixth better than in 2022 – when Covid was a significant factor – the number is likely to be hit by international travellers avoiding the French capital du.