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World Airport Rankings 2010: Big changes to global Top 30. Beijing up to #2, Heathrow falls to #4

Analysis

The rankings of the world's busiest airports for 2010 have yielded some key developments in global aviation. Beijing Capital Airport has surged into second place behind Atlanta, leapfrogging London Heathrow, which has also dropped below Chicago O'Hare, according to Airports Council International (ACI).

The biggest improver in this year's list was Shanghai Pudong Airport, which surged 14 places to 20th position just behind Mainland Chinese counterpart Guangzhou (which rose three places). Shanghai Pudong, which reported a 27.2% increase in passenger traffic last year, replaces Newark in the global Top 30.

See CAPA's related World Airport Rankings 2010 reports:

Other notable performers included Jakarta, which jumped seven places to 16th largest, and Singapore - which rose from 21st to 18th place. Dubai gained two places to 13th.

Only two airports in the Top 30 did not grow in 2010, Las Vegas (-2.6%) and London Heathrow (-0.2%). Charlotte (+10.4%) was the only large airport outside the Asia Pacific region and Middle East growing by more than 10%.

NB: Click on any of the airport codes in the table below to view detailed schedule and fares data, as well as news and analysis.

World's Top 30 Airports by Passenger Numbers: 2010

Airport

Passengers

% change

Rank 2010

Rank 2009

Change

Atlanta (ATL)

89,331,622

1.5

1

1

-

Beijing (PEK)

73,891,801

13

2

3

+1

Chicago (ORD)

66,665,390

3.3

3

4

+1

London (LHR)

65,884,143

-0.2

4

2

-2

Tokyo Haneda (HND)

64,069,098

3.4

5

5

-

Los Angeles (LAX)

58,915,100

4.2

6

7

+1

Paris (CDG)

58,167,062

0.4

7

6

-1

Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW)

56,905,066

1.6

8

8

-

Frankfurt (FRA)

53,009,221

4.1

9

9

-

Denver (DEN)

52,211,242

4.1

10

10

-

Hong Kong (HKG)

50,410,819

10.6

11

13

+2

Madrid (MAD)

49,786,202

2.8

12

11

-1

Dubai (DXB)

47,180,628

15.4

13

15

+2

New York (JFK)

46,495,876

1.4

14

12

-2

Amsterdam (AMS)

45,211,749

3.8

15

14

-1

Jakarta (CGK)

43,981,022

18.4

16

23

+7

Bangkok (BKK)

42,784,967

5.6

17

16

-1

Singapore (SIN)

42,038,777

13

18

21

+3

Guangzhou (CAN)

40,975,253

10.6

19

22

+3

Shanghai (PVG)

40,582,356

27.2

20

34

+14

Houston (IAH)

40,475,058

1.2

21

18

-3

Las Vegas (LAS)

39,397,359

-2.6

22

17

-5

San Francisco (SFO)

39,254,634

5.1

23

20

-3

Phoenix (PHX)

38,552,409

1.9

24

19

-5

Charlotte (CLT)

38,143,078

10.4

25

24

-1

Rome (FCO)

36,228,490

7.4

26

27

+1

Sydney (SYD)

35,992,164

7.6

27

28

+1

Miami (MIA)

35,698,025

5.3

28

25

-3

Orlando (MCO)

34,877,507

3.5

29

26

-3

Munich (MUC)

34,721,605

6.2

30

30

-

Big shifts towards emerging markets - more investment needed

The Asia Pacific region overtook North America as the largest aviation market in 2009. By 2014, Asia will account for 30% of global traffic, while North America will fall to 23%. Asia Pacific's carriers are the most profitable, with USD7.7 billion in net profits in 2010, and USD3.7 billion forecast for this year, according to IATA. Of the 800 million new passengers who will fly by 2014, 360 million of them will be in Asia Pacific and 214 million of those in China alone, according to the airline industry body. China overtook Japan last year as the world's second biggest economy behind the US.

ACI World Director General Angela Gittens said: "2010 underscored the resilience of the air transport business and resulted in over 5 billion annual passengers for the first time ever. 2010 also pronounced the shift and divergence in growth across the regions. While North America and Europe have struggled to reach pre-crisis passenger volumes, Asia-Pacific, Latin America-Caribbean and Middle East sustained a strong momentum and gained market share through double digit growth."

Ms Gittens added: "GDP growth projections for this and the coming years are high creating a positive outlook for demand for air transport. This underpins the need to continue to expand and modernize airport infrastructure to maintain high standards of efficiency and customer service. More than ever, airports will be asked to finance these projects autonomously without public funds requiring private and public airports to be empowered to generate necessary returns on their investment."

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