The Charlotte Douglas International Airport has just been ranked the 5th busiest in the world in a new report published by the Airports Council International (ACI).
According to the report, our airport processed a total of 519,895 arrivals and departures in 2021 and transported a total of 43 million passengers.
Charlotte ranked just ahead of LAX and Las Vegas, and just behind Denver.
AIRCRAFT MOVEMENTS*
| 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | Airport | 2021 | % change vs 2020 | % change vs 2019 |
| 1 | 1 | 2 | ATLANTA GA, US (ATL) | 707 661 | 29.1 | -21.7 |
| 2 | 2 | 1 | CHICAGO IL, US (ORD) | 684 201 | 27.1 | -25.6 |
| 3 | 3 | 3 | DALLAS/FORT WORTH TX, US (DFW) | 651 895 | 26.7 | -9.5 |
| 4 | 4 | 5 | DENVER CO, US (DEN) | 580 866 | 32.9 | -8.1 |
| 5 | 6 | 7 | CHARLOTTE NC, US (CLT) | 519 895 | 30.6 | -10.1 |
| 6 | 7 | 4 | LOS ANGELES CA, US (LAX) | 506 769 | 33.6 | -26.7 |
| 7 | 10 | 8 | LAS VEGAS NV, US (LAS) | 486 540 | 50.4 | -12.0 |
| 8 | 13 | 25 | PHOENIX AZ, US (PHX) | 408 285 | 31.6 | -7.0 |
| 9 | 24 | 30 | MIAMI FL, US (MIA) | 387 973 | 54.4 | -6.9 |
| 10 | 21 | 14 | HOUSTON TX, US (IAH) | 378 562 | 41.4 | -20.8 |
*Movements: landings and take-offs
Charlotte also ranks 6th in the world for overall passenger count.
PASSENGERS*
| 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | Airport | 2021 | % change vs 2020 | % change vs 2019 |
| 1 | 2 | 1 | ATLANTA GA, US (ATL) | 75 704 760 | 76.4 | -31.5 |
| 2 | 4 | 10 | DALLAS/FORT WORTH TX, US (DFW) | 62 465 756 | 58.7 | -16.8 |
| 3 | 8 | 16 | DENVER CO, US (DEN) | 58 828 552 | 74.4 | -14.8 |
| 4 | 13 | 6 | CHICAGO IL, US (ORD) | 54 020 399 | 75.1 | -36.2 |
| 5 | 15 | 3 | LOS ANGELES CA, US (LAX) | 48 007 284 | 66.8 | -45.5 |
| 6 | 18 | 34 | CHARLOTTE NC, US (CLT) | 43 302 230 | 59.2 | -13.4 |
| 7 | 27 | 31 | ORLANDO FL, US (MCO) | 40 351 068 | 86.7 | -20.3 |
| 8 | 1 | 11 | GUANGZHOU, CN (CAN) | 40 259 401 | -8.0 | -45.1 |
| 9 | 3 | 24 | CHENGDU, CN (CTU) | 40 117 496 | -1.5 | -28.2 |
| 10 | 22 | 30 | LAS VEGAS NV, US (LAS) | 39 754 366 | 78.6 | -23.1 |
* Total passengers enplaned and deplaned, passengers in transit counted once
“The rankings reflect the important role CLT played in the aviation industry last year as one of the busiest airports in the world,” said CLT’s CEO Haley Gentry. “Many people were eager to travel by air again in 2021, and we’re happy to partner with the airlines to serve these passengers coming through Charlotte. This year, we are predicting an even stronger 2022 with one of our best summers ever.”
CLT ranks the fifth busiest airport worldwide for arrivals and departures and sixth for passenger traffic, according to Airports Council International (ACI) 2021 preliminary rankings.
Learn more: https://t.co/iqcFvNnxbq pic.twitter.com/Aa7ihTfARv
— CLT Airport (@CLTAirport) April 11, 2022
To read more, you can see the entire ACI report here.