THIS airport has been named the busiest airport by passenger traffic, beating Dubai International and Heathrow to the punch.
Hosting 105 million total passengers pass through its gates a year, it’s been the busiest airport since 1998 barring the pandemic.
Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) in the US state of Georgia is the busiest global airport by total seats, according to global travel data provider OAG.
“By seat” refers to the flow of passengers boarding and exiting planes.
The OAG website states: “ATL continues to be the busiest global airport in September 2024 with 5.2 million seats, however the airport has had a drop in seats per day of 2% this month compared to last month.”
This airport has had a 23 out of 24-year streak of passenger-traffic champions, missing out on the crown one year due to COVID-19.
ATL, named after former Atlanta mayors William B. Hartsfield and Maynard Jackson, offers a direct service to more than 150 domestic and 70 international destinations.
Luckily, for holiday happy Brits – one of these nonstop flight destination is the UK.
It takes around nine hours to fly from London to Atlanta, so for the length of a good nights sleep you could be at the birthplace of Coca-Cola.
You’re also able pinch flights directly to Atlanta from London for under £600, according to SkyScanner.
For those fancying a trip across the Atlantic Ocean, ATL averages over 286,000 passengers a day an has five separate runways to cater for their high influx of passengers.
The fifth runway was hailed as “The Most Important Runway in America” when it was built due to its efficiency.
It’s not surprising given the size of it – ATL has a total airport size of 4,700 acres and the five runways boasting lengths of over 2,700 metres each.
The impressive airports length warrants a three-mile long plane train spanning Domestic and Internationals terminals so that passengers aren’t racing to catch their flights.
With extensive ground and air space ATL aren’t limited to the number of arrivals and departures they can cater for.
It currently averages at an astonishing 2,100 daily, according to ATL.
The so called ‘Powerhouse of the South’ is also the primary headquarters of the on of the worlds largest airline by, Delta Air Lines.
This brings another inflow of passengers arriving into ATL with Delta Air Lines offering non-stop flights from London to Atlanta every few hours.
