Biggest airports listed by seat capacity in 2024 – Atlanta and Dubai dominate the tables

In 2024 there was a continuing reinstatement of seat capacity at airports across the world, with the laggards in Asia Pacific starting finally to make up ground and to move back towards the positions they occupied prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some airports seem to be set in stone when it comes to those rankings, and especially Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which consistently retained its #1 position for combined domestic and international traffic during the pandemic.

Atlanta is one of four US airports in that table, but there are none at all in the international (only) capacity ranking, demonstrating again the power of the US domestic network.

Internationally, it is still Dubai that tops that league, and consistently so since 2019, followed by London Heathrow which has done well to hang on to the #2 spot as Britain's economy stagnates.

In fact, Europe and Asia Pacific continue to dominate the international capacity table, although Doha has made its mark with the combined increase in seat capacity compared to both 2019 and 2023.