Orlando International Airport joins top 10 busiest in the world

Airport jumped from 27th in 2020 to 7th in 2021 worldwide

ORLANDO, Fla. – Orlando International Airport is not only one of the busiest airports in the U.S., but it is now one of the top 10 busiest in the world, according Airports Council International.

The airport is now the seventh busiest in the world for 2021, jumping from 27th worldwide in 2020. OIA also ended 2021 as the busiest airport in Florida and the seventh busiest in the U.S., the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority announced in February.

Recommended Videos



[TRENDING: Florida woman placed boy in dryer, making him go ‘round and round,’ officials say | Kmart now down to 3 stores. Here’s where they’re located | Become a News 6 Insider (it’s free!)]

ACI said among the U.S. airports ranked in the top 10, “the biggest improvement recorded was from Orlando International Airport,” which saw nearly 40.4 million passengers travel through the airport.

“The ACI World passenger traffic rankings tell the story of an encouraging trend of recovery, with most of the recurrent busiest airports pre-COVID-19 back at the top,” ACI World Director General Luis Felipe de Oliveira said in a release. “Although we are cautious that recovery could face multiple headwinds, the momentum created by reopening plans by countries could lead to an uptick in travel in the second half of 2022.”

In OIA’s latest update, officials said February saw more than 3.6 million passengers, bringing the 2022 count to 7.1 million.

[RELATED: New terminal at Orlando International Airport utilizes latest technology]

Here are the top 10 busiest airports in the world:

  1. Atlanta, Georgia
  2. Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas
  3. Denver, Colorado
  4. Chicago, Illinois
  5. Los Angeles, California
  6. Charlotte, North Carolina
  7. Orlando, Florida
  8. Guangzhou, China
  9. Chengdu, China
  10. Las Vegas, Nevada

This new ranking comes as Orlando International Airport prepares to open its new South terminal to handle more passengers.


About the Author

Brenda Argueta is a digital journalist who joined ClickOrlando.com in March 2021. She is the author of the Central Florida Happenings newsletter that goes out every Thursday.

Recommended Videos