Dubai Airport retains title as world's busiest international airport

Dubai International Airport (DXB) has once again secured its position as the World’s Busiest International Airport for 2024, offering an impressive 60.2 million seats. This represents a 7% increase from the previous year and highlights DXB’s dominance as a global aviation hub. This marks the third time DXB has claimed the top spot, following its number-one rankings in 2023 and 2019, according to global travel data firm OAG.

London Heathrow (LHR) comes in second with 48.4 million seats, up 4% from 2023, while Seoul Incheon International Airport (ICN) saw the biggest jump in the rankings, rising four places to take third. ICN's 41.6 million seats represent a 24% surge in capacity over the previous year, although it's still slightly behind 2019 figures by 2%.

In a surprising turn, Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) experienced the largest capacity growth among the world’s top 10 busiest airports, soaring by 40% from 2023. This brought HKG to ninth place in 2024, although it remains 23% behind 2019 levels.

Top 10 busiest airports OAG

Meanwhile, Istanbul Airport (IST) showed the most impressive growth compared to 2019, with a 20% boost in airline capacity, totaling 38.6 million seats, securing sixth place overall.

When looking at total global airport capacity, including both international and domestic flights, Dubai International ranked second, just behind Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson (ATL), which posted a 2% growth in 2024, reaching 62.7 million seats to retain the top spot.

In addition to DXB's record-setting performance, the UAE has had a banner year in aviation. Earlier this month, the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) reported that the country reached a historic milestone with over one million air traffic movements in 2024. This achievement was capped on December 22 when Emirates Flight 305 from Shanghai touched down, marking the culmination of a busy year. The UAE’s air traffic growth rate averaged 10.3% year-on-year, reflecting a booming recovery for the nation's aviation sector.

Dubai International continues to be at the heart of the global aviation hub, and the UAE’s airports show no signs of slowing down.