Orlando cracks list of world’s top 10 busiest airports as U.S. leisure traffic soars

Passengers look at in for a Southwest Airlines flight at Orlando Worldwide Airport in Orlando, Florida, U.S., October 11, 2021. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Image

April 11 (Reuters) – Orlando cracked a record of the world’s prime 10 busiest airports by passengers for the first time past calendar year, as the property of the Walt Disney Entire world and Common Studios Florida theme parks joined largely American hubs as soaring leisure journey underpins a recovery in website traffic.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Global Airport topped the rankings by passenger site visitors released Monday by Airports Council Intercontinental (ACI), which is dependent on a preliminary compilation of 2021 world knowledge.

The report also ranked airports by cargo volumes and aircraft actions.

When the United States has noticed the fastest and strongest restoration in travel, fueled by leisure journeys to places like Florida, it however trails 2019 traffic concentrations.

In accordance to FlightAware info for March 6 to 13, U.S. professional flights have been down almost 18% in contrast with the very same period in 2019. By contrast, world wide targeted traffic was down almost 27%.

With 40.4 million travellers, Florida’s Orlando Global Airport rated seventh in 2021, just in advance of China’s Guangzhou Baiyun Global Airport, and breaking into the prime 10 for the initially time since info was available in 1991, ACI instructed Reuters.

Whilst China continues to be an aviation powerhouse the country’s international borders remained shut in 2021. Domestic traffic fell thanks to the country’s zero-COVID coverage which intended a collection of outbreaks that are small by planet standards led to demanding inside vacation controls, dampening demand.

A spokeswoman for the Better Orlando Aviation Authority explained the airport is expecting greater site visitors in 2022 as global and enterprise travel return in better quantities.

The rankings “explain to the story of an encouraging pattern of restoration, with most of the recurrent busiest airports pre-COVID-19 back again at the prime,” ACI Earth Director Standard Luis Felipe de Oliveira claimed in a assertion.

Website traffic at the prime 10 busiest airports in 2021 represented about 463 million travellers or pretty much 10% of world-wide targeted visitors, ACI mentioned.

Reporting By Allison Lampert in Montreal Further reporting by Jamie Freed in Sydney Editing by Andrea Ricci

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