World fastest growing airports named

We’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later.

Advertisement

This was published 7 years ago

World fastest growing airports named

By Oliver Smith
Updated
Loading

The rise of Dubai International Airport over the last 25 years has been remarkable. The Middle Eastern hub welcomed just 4.35 million passengers in 1990 - about the same as the UK's Newcastle Airport handles today.

That figure doubled to 9.73m in 1998, advanced to 15.97m in 2002, and then 28.79m in 2006. Last year the total was a whopping 78.01m. It is now the busiest airport in the world in terms of international traffic, and just one - Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International - stands between it and total domination.

Of the world's 50 biggest airports, it is still one of the fastest growing. According to the website OAG, its summer seat capacity last year was 29.78m - 20 per cent higher than in 2014. Overall growth was more modest, at 10.7 per cent, but still enough to make it one of the 10 most rapidly expanding major airports on Earth.

World's fastest growing airport: Shanghai Pudong International Airport, China.

World's fastest growing airport: Shanghai Pudong International Airport, China.Credit: AP

See also: World's best airport for 2016: Skytrax awards

Top of the table is Shanghai Pudong International, which saw an increase in passenger numbers of 16.3 per cent between 2014 and 2015. The full top 10 is shown below.

Of the world's 50 busiest airports, just two suffered a fall in passenger numbers last year: São Paulo-Guarulhos International (-1.4%) and Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (-5.5%).

10. Dubai International Airport

2015 passengers: 78,014,841

Advertisement

% growth: 10.7%

Opened: 1960

Runways: 2

Hub for: Emirates, Flydubai, Qantas

9. Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport

2015 passengers: 42,244,842

% growth: 12%

Opened: 1956 (it was previously a military airfield)

Runways: 2

Hub for: Air China, Chengdu Airlines, Sichuan Airlines

8. Madrid Barajas Airport

2015 passengers: 46,779,554

% growth: 12%

Opened: 1928

Runways: 4

Hub for: Ryanair, Norwegian, Vueling, Wamos Air, Evelop Airlines

7. Benito Juárez International Airport, Mexico City

2015 passengers: 38,433,288

% growth: 12.2%

Opened: 1928 (the site has been used for aviation since 1910)

Runways: 2

Hub for: Aeromexico, Interjet, Aeromar, Volaris, Magnicharters

6. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport

2015 passengers: 42,340,461

% growth: 12.9%

Opened: 1947

Runways: 3

Hub for: Delta, Alaska Airlines, Horizon Air

5. Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok

2015 passengers: 52,808,013

% growth: 13.8%

Opened: 2006

Runways: 2

Hub for: Bangkok Airways, Jet Asia Airways, Asia Atlantic Airlines, Orient Thai Airlines, Thai Airways International, Thai VietJet Air, Thai Smile

4. Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi

2015 passengers: 45,981,773

% growth: 15.7%

Opened: 1930

Runways: 3

Hub for: AirAsia India, Air India, GoAir, IndiGo, Jet Airways, Quikjet Airlines, SpiceJet, Vistara

3. Kunming Changshui International Airport

2015 passengers: 37,523,345

% growth: 16%

Opened: 2012

Runways: 2

Hub for: China Eastern, Kunming Airlines, Lucky Air, Ruili Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, Hongtu Airlines

2. Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai

2015 passengers: 40,637,377

% growth: 16.1%

Opened: 1946

Runways: 2

Hub for: Air India, Blue Dart Aviation, GoAir, Jet Airways

1. Shanghai Pudong International Airport

2015 passengers: 60,053,387

% growth: 16.3%

Opened: 1999

Runways: 4

Hub for: Air China, China Eastern, Juneyao Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Spring Airlines

The Telegraph, London

See also: The world's busiest international airport: Dubai overtakes Heathrow

Sign up for the Traveller Deals newsletter

Get exclusive travel deals delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up now.

Most viewed on Traveller

Loading