Airports Council Releases 2022 North America Airport Traffic Rankings

August 7, 2023

WASHINGTON – Airports Council International – North America (ACI-NA), the trade association representing commercial service airports in the United States and Canada, today released its 2022 North American Airport Traffic Summary containing passenger, cargo, and aircraft operations data from 277 North American airports.

“While the COVID-19 pandemic seriously affected air travel across North America and around the world, our airports continue to recover and provide even better, safer, and more efficient travel experiences for passengers,” said ACI-NA President and CEO Kevin M. Burke. “The innovative technology, facilities, and services airports across North America are implementing have helped prepare them to handle the significant uptick in traffic we are seeing now. There is no doubt that our industry is meeting the challenges presented by an ever-changing and reinvigorated travel environment.”


Key Findings

      • In 2022, North American airports experienced a robust recovery in international passenger traffic with an increase of 117.2 percent from 2021. Similarly, domestic passenger traffic grew by 25.8 percent from 2021.
      • Four of the world’s five busiest airports in terms of total passenger traffic are now U.S. airports.
      • Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) remained the busiest airport in North America and the world in 2022 with 93.6 million passengers, an increase of 23.8 percent from 2021.
      • Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) is once again Canada’s most-traveled airport with 35.6 million passengers, an increase of 180.5 percent from 2021.
      • Memphis International Airport (MEM) was North America’s busiest cargo airport in 2022, handling 4.0 million metric tons, a decrease of 9.8 percent from 2021.
    • Nine out of the top 10 airports globally for aircraft movements are in the United States.

Passenger Traffic

Passenger traffic continued recovering in 2022 from the COVID-19 pandemic with a 33.3 percent increase over 2021 levels. While domestic passenger traffic increased by 25.8 percent in 2022, international passenger traffic showed strong recovery with 117.2 percent growth over 2021 levels.

Cargo Volume

After a major boost in air cargo shipping in 2020 and 2021, air cargo volume reduced in 2022. Overall air cargo traffic decreased by 3.9 percent, as a result of a reduction in international freight volume of 2.6 percent while domestic freight decreased by 4.5 percent when compared to 2021.

Aircraft Movements

Aircraft movements continued to increase in 2022 after the sharp decline experienced during the pandemic. Total aircraft movements increased by 9.2 percent in 2022 compared to 2021. This increase was driven by a robust recovery of 14.8 percent in passenger and combination aircraft movements. All-cargo aircraft movements recorded a decrease of 8.5 percent from 2021 to 2022.
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About ACI-NA

Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA) represents local, regional, and state governing bodies that own and operate commercial airports in the United States and Canada. ACI-NA member airports enplane more than 95 percent of the domestic and virtually all the international airline passenger and cargo traffic in North America. Approximately 380 aviation-related businesses are also members of ACI-NA, providing goods and services to airports. Collectively, U.S. airports support more than 11.5 million jobs and account for $1.4 trillion in economic activity – or more than seven percent of the total U.S. GDP. Canadian airports support 405,000 jobs and contribute C$35 billion to Canada’s GDP. Learn more at www.airportscouncil.org.