Dubai International Airport (DXB) was the world's busiest global hub for the 12th year in a row in 2025, as the city attracted its highest number of overseas tourists.
DXB handled a record 95.2 million passengers last year, up 3.1 per cent annually and 10.3 per cent from 2019, the Airports Council International said in its latest annual report on Tuesday.
The airport, home to Emirates airline, said in February that it achieved its “busiest day, month, quarter and year on record, operating at the edge of physical capacity” last year.
Dubai attracted 19.59 million international overnight visitors last year, an increase of 5 per cent from 2024, according to its Department of Economy and Tourism. The expansion of Emirates, the world's biggest long-haul airline, also continued to drive growth at the airport.
London’s Heathrow, Incheon in Seoul, Singapore's Changi and Schiphol in Amsterdam rounded off the top-five busiest airports for international air traffic.
Including domestic passenger travel, Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson – the base of Delta Air Lines – retained its title as the world's busiest airport, handling 106.3 million travellers. However, traffic at the airport was down by 1.6 per cent annually and 3.8 per cent compared to 2019, according to ACI, after the longest government shutdown in US history led to massive flight cancellations last year.
DXB, Tokyo Haneda Airport, Dallas-Fort Worth in Texas and Shanghai Pudong International Airport rounded off the top five for overall traffic. Shanghai Pudong recorded the biggest jump in the top 10, rising to fifth position from 10th on the back of international traffic recovery, visa policy easing and expanded connectivity, ACI said.
In 2025, passenger traffic globally is estimated to have reached 9.8 billion, an increase of 3.6 per cent from 2024, according to ACI. The top 10 busiest airports for passenger traffic represented 9 per cent of the total.
The world’s busiest airports are managing growing air travel demand amid “increasing operational complexity”, said ACI world director general Justin Erbacci.
“To help keep pace with rising demand, governments must prioritise sustained investment in airports and the broader aviation ecosystem,” he added.
The report comes as the global aviation industry remains severely disrupted by the Iran war that began on February 28, which has led to closed airspace, reduced operations at some airports, major re-routing to avoid conflict zones, fuel shortages and high costs.
Even if the war ends immediately, “remedies for airline schedules will not be immediate”, Nick Careen, senior vice president for operations, safety and security at the International Air Transport Association (Iata) said in a note on Tuesday.
“Some airlines have made pre-emptive cancellations to give passengers time to plan around the disruptions,” he said.
“And re-starting operations will take time for aircraft and crews to re-position, schedules to be rebuilt, and fuel supplies replenished, and networks need time to recover. Getting back to normal will take months, not days.”
