Chinese Aviation Races Back, But Atlanta Airport Is Still Busiest In The World

Ten of the top twenty airports in the world for departing seat capacity this week are in China, according to OAG. Some of the busiest airports in the world may be places you haven’t heard of or at least, couldn’t place precisely on a map like Hangzhou, Chongquing and Kunming.

China’s domestic travel capacity had collapsed, suggesting the country hadn’t recovered as much in aviation from Covid-19 as they’d previously let on. However Chinese New Year brought travel racing back. Chongquing actually has 8% more seats flying this week than in January 2020.

For all of China’s dominance here in Covid times around Chinese New Year the busiest airport in the world for domestic flying is still Atlantaa – and by a lot (17% ahead of the number two airport). Middle seat blocking helps here (Delta is flying more seats than they are selling) but Delta has retrenched to Atlanta to a large degree and it skews as a domestic hub even during normal times.

While capacity there has fallen nearly a third year-over-year, the airport was the largest already by enough that it retains the spot even as Dallas contracted less.

Here’s the full list, with Denver currently United’s biggest hub.

Airport Jan 2020 This Week Vs Last Week Vs. 2020
Atlanta              1,014,824           690,739 2.5% -31.9%
Guangzhou                 698,419           590,006 42.7% -15.5%
Chengdu                 605,315           581,883 36.3% -3.9%
Chongquing                 520,763           562,768 40.9% 8.1%
Denver                 650,980           537,620 4.9% -17.4%
Shenzhen                 562,357           534,415 30.9% -5.0%
Dallas-Fort Worth                 668,358           505,923 2.2% -24.3%
Tokyo Haneda                 829,733           483,028 0.6% -41.8%
Delhi                 583,237           481,042 3.5% -17.5%
Jakarta                 627,397           474,244 -1.4% -24.4%
Kunming                 522,420           456,881 61.6% -12.5%
X’ian                 502,173           415,802 56.9% -17.2%
Shanghai Hongqiao                 472,253           413,893 23.0% -12.4%
Beijing Capital                 841,142           391,917 11.9% -53.4%
Seattle                 461,887           372,986 8.5% -19.2%
Hangzhou                 388,176           371,171 47.5% -4.4%
Shanghai Pudong                 451,681           365,255 43.1% -19.1%
Chicago O’Hare                 698,340           359,799 9.0% -48.5%
Charlotte                 540,852           358,742 0.5% -33.7%
Los Angeles                 631,461           345,389 3.9% -45.3%

Ten of the top twenty airports for domestic capacity are in China, seven are in the U.S., and that leaves just Tokyo Haneda, Delhi, and Jakarta in other countries. China and the U.S. have among the most robust domestic air networks and limited domestic travel restrictions.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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