ACI World reports record 9.8 billion passengers at global airports in 2025

Record 2025, slower 2026

ACI World's 2026 Airport Traffic Dataset, released on 23 September, covers 2,817 commercial airports and about 97% of scheduled global passenger traffic. It shows global airports handled 9.8 billion passengers in 2025, up 3.7% on 2024 and 6.5% above 2019.

International travel drove the increase. International passenger traffic rose 6.1%, against 1.7% for domestic services, ACI World said.

The first half of 2026 was much weaker. Passenger traffic reached about 4.7 billion, up just 0.6% on the same period a year earlier. AeroTime reported that ACI World called it a "marked slowdown from 2025's pace." The Middle East posted the sharpest fall, down 21%, as conflict and airspace disruption hit the region. North America was broadly flat. Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia-Pacific kept growing.

Regional growth in 2025

Africa led the 2025 regional table with growth of 9.0%, ahead of the Middle East at 6.5%, Asia-Pacific at 5.1%, Latin America and the Caribbean at 4.5% and Europe at 4.2%. North America was the only region to shrink, down 0.7%, on weaker domestic demand, ACI World said.

Europe's aviation network handled an average of 35,959 flights per day between 1 June and 31 August, up 2.4% on summer 2025 and its busiest summer on record, Travel Tomorrow reported. The figure measures flight movements, not passengers.

Top airports

The world's 20 busiest airports handled 1.59 billion passengers in 2025, or 16% of all air travellers, according to the dataset. Atlanta held first place with 106.3 million passengers, despite a 1.6% decline. Dubai stayed second at 95.2 million, up 3.1%, and Tokyo Haneda third at 91.7 million, up 6.7%.

Asia-Pacific airports drove most of the ranking shifts. Shanghai Pudong climbed from 10th to 5th after growth of 10.7%. Kuala Lumpur rose six places to 20th with 63.4 million passengers, up 11%. Guangzhou Baiyun returned to 9th, having topped the table in 2020 and fallen to 57th in 2022.

Five of the top 20 airports are in the United States. Four are predominantly domestic hubs, with domestic traffic at 80% to 95% of passengers. Los Angeles is the exception at 68%.

"Global air travel is approaching a historic milestone, but record demand is also exposing growing pressures on capacity," said Justin Erbacci, ACI World director general. "The planning and investment decisions made today will determine whether aviation can meet the demands of the next generation of travellers."

Cargo and movements

Global air cargo reached 131.2 million tonnes in 2025, up 3.3% on 2024 and 7.4% above 2019. Aircraft movements rose 2.0% to 103.1 million, ACI World said.

Chicago O'Hare overtook Atlanta as the busiest airport for movements, with more than 857,000 take-offs and landings, up 10.5%. Atlanta had 808,000 movements, up 1.4%. Hong Kong remained the top cargo airport, handling 5.1 million tonnes, ahead of Shanghai Pudong at 4.1 million and Anchorage at 3.9 million.

E-commerce and supply chain restructuring are sustaining demand for fast freight capacity, the dataset says.

Capacity pressure

ACI World said population growth, rising incomes, expanding connectivity and appetite for international mobility still support the long-term outlook. Erbacci said meeting demand means expanding capacity while getting far more out of existing infrastructure and advocating for regulation that enables investment rather than blocking it.