Air travel has become a vital piece of the global economy. It is the most popular means of travel over long distances, capable of carrying vacationers, visitors, businesspeople, or armed forces personnel to their destinations more quickly and safely than could rails, roads, or waterways. Air transport is also ideal for non-human cargo including mail, merchandise, and military payloads.
As a result, cities around the world have adapted quickly, building enormous airports and support infrastructure to meet the ever-growing demand for affordable, available air transport. The world’s busiest airports by aircraft movements are measured by total movements. A movement is a landing or takeoff of an aircraft.
Here are the top 20 largest airports in the world by aircraft movements.
| Rank | Airport | Country | Total aircraft movements |
| 1. | O’Hare International Airport | United States | 903,747 |
| 2. | Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport | United States | 895,682 |
| 3. | Los Angeles International Airport | United States | 707,833 |
| 4. | Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport | United States | 667,213 |
| 5. | Beijing Capital International Airport | China | 614,022 |
| 6. | Denver International Airport | United States | 595,190 |
| 7. | Charlotte Douglas International Airport | United States | 550,013 |
| 8. | McCarran International Airport | United States | 539,857 |
| 9. | Amsterdam Airport Schiphol | Netherlands | 517,737 |
| 10. | Frankfurt Airport | Germany | 512,115 |
| 11. | Shanghai Pudong International Airport | China | 504,794 |
| 12. | Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport | France | 488,092 |
| 13. | Indira Gandhi International Airport | India | 480,707 |
| 14. | London Heathrow Airport | United Kingdom | 477,769 |
| 15. | Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport | China | 477,364 |
| 16. | Toronto Pearson International Airport | Canada | 474,289 |
| 17. | San Francisco International Airport | United States | 470,164 |
| 18. | George Bush Intercontinental Airport | United States | 466,738 |
| 19. | Seoul Incheon International Airport | South Korea | 464,646 |
| 20. | Soekarno–Hatta International Airport | Indonesia | 463,069 |
