Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport Statistics

Hartsfield‑Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) remains the world’s busiest airport by passenger volume, processing more than 100 million travelers in a typical year. Located in Atlanta, Georgia, the airport is a major hub for domestic and international traffic in the southeastern United States.

Preliminary year-to-date figures through August 2026 show ATL handled about 70.93 million passengers in the first eight months of the year¹.

• ATL handled 70.93 million passengers from January to August 2026¹, about 0.6% fewer than the 71.38 million recorded in the same period of 2025².
• Aircraft operations totaled 540,024 year to date¹, up about 0.4% from 537,622 in January–August 2025².
• The airport handled 433,923 metric tons of cargo, including 415,449 metric tons of freight and express and 18,474 metric tons of mail¹.
• July was the busiest month so far, with 9.76 million passengers and 71,527 aircraft operations¹.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport was the world's busiest airport by total passengers in 2025, according to the final rankings from Airports Council International (ACI) World. It handled 106.3 million passengers, about 11.1 million more than second-placed Dubai International.⁸

• ATL's traffic fell 1.6% in 2025, while Dubai (+3.1%) and Tokyo Haneda (+6.7%) grew, narrowing the gap at the top of the ranking.⁸
• Dallas/Fort Worth slipped from 3rd to 4th with 85.7 million passengers, and Shanghai Pudong made the biggest jump in the top 10, rising from 10th to 5th.⁸
• Five of the world's 20 busiest airports are in the United States: Atlanta, Dallas/Fort Worth, Chicago O'Hare, Denver and Los Angeles.⁸
• By aircraft movements, ATL ranked 2nd in 2025, behind Chicago O'Hare.⁸

Delta Air Lines dominates operations at ATL, creating one of the world's largest single-airline fortress hubs.

• Delta Air Lines remains the dominant carrier, operating roughly 75.13% of passenger volume in 2025.³
• Frontier Airlines is a distant second at 4.91%³.
• Southwest Airlines, Endeavor Air (operating for Delta), and Spirit Airlines round out the top five with 4.68%, 3.96% and 2.26% market share respectively³.

ATL's busiest days fall around spring break, summer and the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Across the week, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays are typically the busiest travel days.¹³

• Record day: the airport processed about 115,000 travelers on Thursday, April 2, 2026, its busiest spring day ever, as Easter, Passover and Atlanta Public Schools' spring break coincided.¹⁴
• Previous high: TSA screened 111,624 passengers on Friday, April 4, 2025, beating the local high of 111,000 set on May 23, 2024.¹⁵
• Annual screenings: a record 30.1 million passengers passed through ATL's TSA checkpoints in 2025, the first year above 30 million.¹⁶
• Thanksgiving: the airport expected more than 4 million passengers between November 21 and December 2, 2025, with Monday, December 1, the busiest day by scheduled flights.¹⁷
• Christmas and New Year: officials expected 5.3 million passengers from December 19, 2025, to January 4, 2026, the busiest holiday period since the pandemic, with December 26 the peak at nearly 350,000 passengers.¹⁸

Airport officials advise arriving at least two and a half hours before domestic flights and three hours before international flights.¹³

ATL offers extensive connectivity with more than 220 destinations (over 150 in the U.S. and over 70 abroad)¹⁹, heavily concentrated on major population centers and leisure destinations.

• Orlando, Florida (MCO) consistently ranks as the top domestic destination, handling 1.36 million passengers in the 12 months to June 2026²⁰ and served by Delta, Frontier, Southwest, and Spirit airlines.
• Florida destinations dominate the top routes, with Fort Lauderdale (1.15 million) and Tampa (986,000) joining Orlando in the top four, and Miami (952,370) placing sixth²⁰.
• Major business and leisure hubs complete the top domestic routes, including New York (LGA) (1.10 million), Los Angeles (911,180), Dallas-Fort Worth (966,180), and Denver (845,410)²⁰.

• On‑time departures: 75% (down from 79% in 2024)²⁰
• On‑time arrivals: 80% (down from 82% in 2024)²⁰
• Cancellation rate: 1.44% (up from 1.00% in 2024)²⁰
• Average departure delay (delayed flights): 67.74 minutes (64.73 minutes in 2024)²⁰
• Average arrival delay (delayed flights): 79.45 minutes (76.70 minutes in 2024)²⁰

• ATL contributes an estimated $34.8 billion to the metro Atlanta economy¹⁹.
• More than 63,000 people work at the airport¹⁹, making it Georgia’s largest single‑site employer.
• The airport spans 4,700 acres¹⁹ and includes two passenger terminals linked to seven concourses with 198 gates.
• ATL plans to expand capacity to 125 million annual passengers within five years²³ through infrastructure upgrades and process improvements.