ACI reports strong 2024 recovery as Asian airports like Shanghai, Delhi, and Incheon lead global growth in passenger traffic and movements.
The Airports Council International (ACI) World has unveiled its 2025 Edition of the World Airport Traffic Dataset, showcasing a robust recovery and significant growth in global air travel. The new data, which confirms the world’s busiest airports in 2024 across passenger traffic, air cargo volumes, and aircraft movements, highlights a particularly strong performance from Asian airports.
Global passenger traffic reached a new high in 2024, surpassing 9.4 billion travelers, an 8.4% increase from 2023 and 2.7% above pre-pandemic (2019) levels. The top 20 airports alone accounted for 16% of global traffic, processing 1.54 billion passengers.
Several Asian airports demonstrated remarkable growth and significant shifts in their rankings, according to ACI:
- Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) climbed 11 positions to become the 10th busiest airport globally in 2024, handling approximately 76.8 million passengers—a 41% year-on-year increase, while also ranking 8th in aircraft movements, reflecting expanded capacity and operational recovery.
- Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (CAN) held steady at 12th place globally, processing 76.4 million passengers in 2024, a 20.9% increase from the previous year, and ranked 9th in global air cargo throughput with 2.37 million tonnes.
- Incheon International Airport (ICN) rose to 13th place worldwide with 70.7 million passengers, marking a 26.7% year-on-year growth, and placed 6th globally for cargo, moving nearly 2.95 million tonnes.
- Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) advanced to 15th place in global rankings with 67.7 million passengers in 2024, a 14.8% rise from 2023, underscoring its continued dominance as a regional transit hub.
- Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) ranked 10th globally and 3rd in Asia, serving approximately 77.8 million passengers in 2024, reflecting consistent growth in both domestic and international segments.
- Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) rose to 16th place worldwide, with 67.4 million passengers—a strong 27.4% increase from the previous year, highlighting accelerated domestic travel recovery.
- Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) processed about 62.2 million passengers in 2024, placing 23rd globally and 9th in Asia, supported by a 16.1% rise in passenger traffic.
