Atlanta's airport belies the city’s relatively low ranking on the global economic scale

Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport retained its position as the world's busiest for passenger traffic in 2016, having become the first airport in the world to serve 100 million passengers in a year in 2015, and looks set to remain in that position in 2017, even though Beijing Capital Airport is narrowing the gap.

In many ways, it dominates the aviation scene in the southeastern part of the U.S. in terms of its sheer domestic size and scope, an increasingly important role in international transportation, and as a competitor to well-established cargo hubs like Miami.

This report looks at present and future growth trends at the airport, local airport statistics, how it matches up to other airports in the vicinity across a range of metrics, at any construction activities, and at its ownership.