The world's busiest airport in numbers

The world’s busiest airport faced chaos at the weekend after a power cut left passengers stranded in darkened terminals and planes idling on the tarmac. 

But we’re not talking about Heathrow, Beijing or even Dubai. The busiest airport on the planet is actually Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International – as it has been since 1998 (that's 19 years in a row). More than 104 million passengers passing through its terminals in 2016 – that’s slightly more than the population of the Philippines.

Here are some more vital statistics.

104,258,124

The precise number of passengers that passed through the airport in 2016.

94,393,454

The amount of passengers that passed through Beijing Capital last year, making it the world’s second busiest airport.

1,408,410

Number who fly annually on its busiest route, to Orlando, Florida. Next up is the service to New York–LaGuardia, which gets 1,202,100. 

777,538

Number who fly on its busiest international route, to Amsterdam. Slight less (761,191) fly from Atlanta to Paris each year. 

72.73%

The biggest airline at Atlanta, by some margin, is Delta. It operates 72.73 per cent of flights. Southwest is next with 11.12 per cent. 

4

The airport’s rating out of 10 according to the review site Skytrax. That is certainly a lowly score, though many US airports have been coming under fire recently with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) regularly failing to get people through security quick enough.

219

Cities with non-stop services to Atlanta.

80

Per cent of US population within a two-hour flight of Atlanta, according to airport authorities.

83 

Number of shops trying to get passengers to part with their cash in the airport. 

77

Food and beverage stores scattered throughout the airport. Do you want fries with that? 

1,296

Toilets in the airport.

57

Tonnes of rubbish produced daily at Hartsfield-Jackson.

53,000

Number of light bulbs used throughout the airport. 

$165.64

Average price of a one-way domestic airline ticket from Atlanta.

1909

Year the Atlanta Speedway, which previously occupied the site of Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, was built. The race track was constructed by Asa Candler, who established the Coca-Cola Company, but his venture into motoring failed to gain traction and a year later the track was being used for air shows.

$500

Cost of a Ford Model T in the early 1900s. Little wonder people had no interest in cars, say historians at Hartsfield-Jackson, who claim that after WWI defunct airplanes cost as little as $300. A new hobby was born. 

1931

Year Atlanta Airport welcomed its first passenger plane, operated by Delta Air Service.

1956

Year the first international flight took off from Atlanta Municipal Airport (now Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport).

But will it be the busiest airport for much longer? 

Though the airport has been dominant for two decades, if trends continue Dubai International Airport, which has grown rapidly in the last 10 years, will soon supplant Hartsfield-Jackson as the world’s busiest. Beijing Capital is also likely to overtake it.