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

Passengers check out in for a Southwest Airlines flight at Orlando Global Airport in Orlando, Florida, U.S., Oct 11, 2021. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo

April 11 (Reuters) – Orlando cracked a listing of the world’s leading 10 busiest airports by travellers for the initially time past year, as the property of the Walt Disney Entire world and Common Studios Florida topic parks joined primarily American hubs as soaring leisure journey underpins a restoration in targeted traffic.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport topped the rankings by passenger site visitors posted Monday by Airports Council International (ACI), which is based mostly on a preliminary compilation of 2021 global knowledge.

The report also rated airports by cargo volumes and aircraft movements.

While the United States has viewed the fastest and strongest recovery in vacation, fueled by leisure trips to locations like Florida, it nevertheless trails 2019 site visitors levels.

In accordance to FlightAware facts for March 6 to 13, U.S. professional flights were being down virtually 18% when compared with the exact time period in 2019. By distinction, worldwide targeted visitors was down almost 27%.

With 40.4 million passengers, Florida’s Orlando International Airport rated seventh in 2021, just forward of China’s Guangzhou Baiyun Global Airport, and breaking into the leading 10 for the first time because details was obtainable in 1991, ACI told Reuters.

Though China continues to be an aviation powerhouse the country’s global borders remained shut in 2021. Domestic traffic fell owing to the country’s zero-COVID coverage which meant a series of outbreaks that are tiny by environment expectations led to strict inside travel controls, dampening demand from customers.

A spokeswoman for the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority claimed the airport is expecting increased visitors in 2022 as intercontinental and business journey return in larger numbers.

The rankings “explain to the story of an encouraging trend of recovery, with most of the recurrent busiest airports pre-COVID-19 back at the leading,” ACI Entire world Director General Luis Felipe de Oliveira mentioned in a assertion.

Targeted visitors at the leading 10 busiest airports in 2021 represented about 463 million travellers or virtually 10% of worldwide targeted visitors, ACI mentioned.

Reporting By Allison Lampert in Montreal Extra reporting by Jamie Freed in Sydney Modifying by Andrea Ricci

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