China's Guangzhou Baiyun International Bypasses Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson As World's Busiest Airport

After more than two decades of reigning as the world’s busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport lost its crown in 2020 to China’s Guangzhou Bai Yun International Airport.

What Happened: Guangzhou was the world’s busiest airport last year in passenger counts, with 43.7 million people streaming through its facilities, according to new data released by Airports Council International. Although the airport’s passenger count was down 40.4% from one year earlier, it nonetheless rose from an 11th place ranking on the 2019 list.

Hartsfield-Jackson came in second place last year with a 42.9 million passenger count, a 61.2% slide from one year earlier. Hartsfield-Jackson was one of three U.S. airports in the 2020 top 10 rankings: Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport ranked fourth and Denver International ranked seventh, with the remaining top 10 spots taken by Chinese airports.

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What Else Happened: Airports Council International also published a list of the busiest airports measured by flight counts in 2020, and Hartsfield-Jackson topped that list with 548,016 aircraft landings and takeoffs.

The Atlanta facility ranked second on that list last year. The 2019 top airport for flight counts, Chicago’s O’Hare International, placed second with 538,211 aircraft movements.

In a switch from the busiest airports list, eight of the top 10 spots were held by U.S. airports, with only two Chinese airports placing in these rankings.

(Photo from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport by Jackie Cheung / Wikimedia Commons.