An airport is one of the magnificent infrastructures representing a city life. One could guess, to certain extent, the standards and facilities available in a city just by seeing and experiencing the airport facilities. This is simply because unlike olden days, today, airport management is considered as a business having public awareness and marketing programmes. Moreover, the passenger traffic over the world has been increasing dramatically that the existing airport facilities are becoming insufficient for increasing demand (Datamonitor, 2008[2]). Thus, book authors have a significant focus on airport management resulting in public becoming more aware of the airport systems.
The busyness of an airport is evaluated in three ways: by passenger traffic, movements, and cargo. The busiest airport by passenger traffic refers to the airport having highest number of passengers arriving and departing. This airport is not necessarily the airport having highest number of aircraft movements. In other words, it is not necessary the highest number of take-offs and landings that makes highest number of passengers. The third evaluation is completely independent of the number of passengers: tonnage of cargo in and out of the airport.
Airport Council International (2008[1]) evaluates airports around the globe. A list of the top ten in 2007 and 2010 follows.
By passenger traffic (2007)
| Name of the Airport | Passenger Traffic | |
| 01 | Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport | 89 379 287 |
| 02 | Chicago O’Hare Airport | 76 177 855 |
| 03 | London Heathrow Airport | 68 068 304 |
| 04 | Haneda Airport | 66 823 414 |
| 05 | Los Angeles Airport | 61 896 075 |
| 06 | Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport | 59 922 177 |
| 07 | Dallas Fort Worth International Airport | 59 786 476 |
| 08 | Frankfurt Airport | 54 161 856 |
| 09 | Beijing Capital International Airport | 53 583 664 |
| 10 | Madrid Barajas International Airport | 52 122 702 |
By Traffic Movements (2007)
| Name of the Airport | Aircraft Traffic | |
| 01 | Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport | 994 346 |
| 02 | Chicago O’Hare Airport | 926 973 |
| 03 | Dallas Fort Worth International Airport | 685 491 |
| 04 | Los Angeles Airport – United States | 680 954 |
| 05 | Denver International Airport | 614 065 |
| 06 | McCarran International Airport | 609 472 |
| 07 | George Bush Intercontinental Airport | 603 656 |
| 08 | Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport | 552 721 |
| 09 | Phoenix International Airport | 539 211 |
| 10 | Charlotte Douglas International Airport | 522 541 |
By Cargo (2007)
| Name of the Airport | Cargo | |
| 01 | Memphis International Airport | 3, 840 491 |
| 02 | Hong Kong International Airport | 3, 773 964 |
| 03 | Anchorage, AK | 2, 825 511 |
| 04 | Shanghai Pudong International Airport | 2, 559 310 |
| 05 | Incheon International Airport | 2, 555 580 |
| 06 | Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport | 2 297 896 |
| 07 | Haneda Airport –Tokyo | 2 254 421 |
| 08 | Frankfurt Airport | 2 127 646 |
| 09 | Louisville International Airport | 2 078 947 |
| 10 | Miami International Airport | 1 922 985 |
By Passenger Traffic (2010)
| Name of Airport | IATA code | Number of Passergers | |
| 01 | Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International | ATL | 89 331 622 |
| 02 | Beijing Capital International | PEK | 73 948 113 |
| 03 | Chicago-O hare International | ORD | 66 774 738 |
| 04 | London Heathrow | LHR | 65 884 143 |
| 05 | Tokyo Haneda | HND | 64 211 074 |
| 06 | Los Angles International | LAX | 59 070 127 |
| 07 | Paris Charles de Gaulle International | CDG | 58 167 062 |
| 08 | Dallas Fort Worth International | DFW | 56 906 610 |
| 09 | Frankfurt International | FRA | 53 009 221 |
| 10 | Denver International | DEN | 52 209 377 |
By Traffic Movements (2010)
| Name of Airport | IATA code | Aircraft Traffic | |
| 01 | Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International | ATL | 950 119 |
| 02 | Chicago-O hare International | ORD | 882 617 |
| 03 | Los Angles International | LAX | 666 938 |
| 04 | Dallas Fort Worth International | DFW | 652 261 |
| 05 | Denver International | DEN | 630 063 |
| 06 | George Bush International | IAH | 531 347 |
| 07 | Charlotte/Douglas International | CLT | 529 101 |
| 08 | Beijing Capital International | PEK | 517 584 |
| 09 | McCarren International | LAS | 505 591 |
| 10 | Paris Charles de Gaulle International | CDG | 499 997 |
By Cargo (2010)
| Name of Airport | IATA code | Cargo | |
| 01 | Chep Lap Kok International | HKG | 4 165 852 |
| 02 | Memphis International | MEM | 3 916 811 |
| 03 | Pudong International Airport | PVG | 3 228 081 |
| 04 | Inchon International | ICN | 2 684 499 |
| 05 | Ted Stevens Anchorage International | ANC | 2 646 695 |
| 06 | Paris Charles de Gaulle International | CDG | 2 399 067 |
| 07 | Frankfurt International | FRA | 2 275 000 |
| 08 | Dubai International | DXB | 2 270 498 |
| 09 | Tokyo Narita | NRT | 2 167 853 |
| 10 | Louisville International/Standiford Field Airport | SDF | 2 166 656 |
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
Two Delta Air Lines aircraft (Boeing 757-200 and MD-88)standing on the apron of ATL (Source: The Boston Globe, 2008[4])
From the above tables Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)is considered as the World’s busiest airport in the year 2007 in terms of passenger and aircraft movements. ATL is publicly owned and is run by Department of Aviation of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Being the primary hub of Delta Air Lines, the airport is situated 11 kilometers south of the central business district of Atlanta City.
The airport consists of five concrete runways and one Asphalt helipad. Length of the runways varies between 9,000 to 11,890 feet (2,743 – 3,624 meters). The airport has 196 gates and six concourses within two main buildings: North Terminal and South Terminal. Concourses T, C and E are relatively larger than others and are mainly used by American Airlines and its connections, American Eagle, Delta Airlines, United Airlines, United Express and Wings Air operating to over hundreds of destinations. Concourse A, B and D are used by Delta Air Lines and its connections to over 15 destinations.
In the year 2007 ATL accommodated a total of 89.4 million passengers and 994, 346 flights. These services were delivered as domestic operations to mainly Southern United States and international to North America, South America, Central America , Africa and Europe. With a traffic jump of 10.2 per cent in the year 2007, ATL is being attracted by more passengers from other parts of the world.
Memphis International Airport
Memphis International Airport (Source: www.memphisairports.org [3])
Memphis International Airport (MEM) is located 5 kilometers south of the city Memphis, Shelby Country, Tennessee United States. MEM is completely owned by the Airport Authority of Memphis; however, both civil and military operations take place.
MEM ranks top of the Cargo airports in the year 2007 because MEM operates a super hub for FedEx Express, the world’s number one cargo carrier. FedEx has been operating to MEM since 1993 contributing largest volume of cargo any airport around the globe.
MEM has three concourses under the same roof. Concourse A has 23 gates mainly used by Delta Air Lines, Delta connections, and Northwest Airlink departing to more than 50 destinations such as Atlanta and JFK airport. While Concourse B with 43 gates is generally used by Northwest Airlines and Northwest Airlink, Concourse C with 10 gates is occupied by AirTran Airways, American Airlines, American Eagle, US Airways, Continental Express and United Express.
Knowledge Management Space
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