North American Airports Report Significant Passenger Growth in 2015

July 26, 2016

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 26, 2016

 

WASHINGTON, DC — Airports Council International – North America (ACI-NA) today released the 2015 North American Airport Traffic Summary, containing passenger, cargo and aircraft operations data from its 223 North American airport members. In 2015, passenger traffic grew 5.4 percent and cargo traffic increased 4 percent.

“The continued success of North American airports reinforces their role as strong contributors to their local communities as well as the global economy,” said ACI-NA President and CEO Kevin M. Burke. “Because all of North America’s top 50 airports reported traffic increases in 2015, this year’s report highlights many of the continuing capacity challenges faced by North American airports. It’s important we continue our work to modernize airport infrastructure to meet growing demands.”

Key Findings

  • Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport remained the world’s busiest airport with more than 101 million passengers, a 5.4 percent increase from 2014.
  • Toronto Pearson International Airport is once again Canada’s busiest airport with 41 million passengers, an increase of 6.4 percent from 2014.
  • Memphis International Airport continues to be the busiest cargo airport in North America, handling nearly 4.3 million metric tons.
  • The 2015 passenger data reported in this year’s North American Airport Traffic Summary exceeded the projections for passenger enplanements by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Based on information submitted to ACI-NA, the 2015 North American Airport Traffic Summary contains passenger, freight/mail and aircraft operations data for 223 North American airport members. Total passengers represent the sum of passengers enplaned and deplaned in all commercial services but not passengers who travel in business or general aviation modes of transportation. Total freight/mail figures represent the sum of the total freight and mail—both loaded and unloaded—at the reporting airport. Total aircraft operations reflect the sum total of all domestic commercial, international commercial, commuter, general aviation and military operations. A summary of the data for top 50 North American airports is available on ACI-NA’s website.

*Passenger traffic is defined as the aggregate total of arriving (deplanement) and departing (enplanement) passengers. Transfer passengers are only counted once.

 

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.