Dubai Remains World's Busiest Airport For International Travelers
Dubai Airport remains the world's busiest airport for international travelers. The airport handled almost 90 million passengers in 2017, 1% more than the previous year. Only Atlanta (103 million) and Beijing(95 million) handle more passengers, but a large number of them travel on domestic flights.
Dubai overtook London Heathrow as the world's busiest airport for international passengers in 2014. Since 2003 Dubai Airport has been growing steadily. It is the home hub of Emirates and flydubai.
The Middle Eastern airport is a major gateway for travelers from Europe to Asia and Australia. Over 100 airlines operate out of Dubai Airport.
India (12 million) was the most popular destination for passengers flying out of Dubai, followed by Saudi Arabia and the UK. The airport now aims at overtaking Atlanta and Beijing to become the world's largest airport in terms of overall passengers.
The world's largest airports (2017 in millions of passengers)
| Atlanta | 103 |
| Beijing | 96 |
| Dubai | 89 |
| Tokyo | 85 |
| Los Angeles | 84 |
| Chicago | 79 |
| London Heathrow | 78 |
| Hong Kong | 72 |
| Shanghai | 70 |
| Paris | 69 |
Related Topics
Words
- aim = have a plan; want to do
- destination = place where a passenger goes to
- domestic flights = flights within the same country
- gateway = here: airport that connects two continents
- handle = here: check the luggage and tickets of passengers who fly from and to the airport
- home hub = the place where an airline has its main offices
- operate = here: an airlines' planes take off and land
- overtake = here: to have more passengers than other airports
- previous = last
- remain = stay
- steadily = slowly but surely