From Arlene Fleming,
Your Guide to Air Travel.
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Busy, busy, busy! The Airports Council International compiles data on the busiest airports in the world, and publishes the list of the top 30 airports in terms of passenger traffic every year. Since you may travel through one of these well trod spaces, I've compiled some data about each of the airports for you.

Having worked for a number of years at one of the airports on the list below, I would rate a good day as seeing passengers wait less than 10 minutes to go through airport security screening, and a bad one as weather-related cancellations with stranded passengers strewn over every patch of sleep-able airport space.

An unusual day in a busy airport? One of the more frightening things I witnessed was while waiting for an aircraft to arrive with a Captain and First Officer. We had our eyes glued to the runway as we saw another airplane coming in at too steep an angle. The Captain just kept saying "Abort, abort", and literally, seconds before landing we saw the plane pull up and breathed a collective sigh of relief. At one of the world's busiest airports, the sky truly is the limit in terms of what you may see.

These are the 30 busiest airports in the world according to passenger traffic:

• 1 ATLANTA, GA (ATL)
• 2 CHICAGO, IL (ORD)
• 3 LONDON, GB (LHR)
• 4 TOKYO, JP (HND)
• 5 LOS ANGELES, CA (LAX)
• 6 DALLAS/FT WORTH AIRPORT, TX (DFW)
• 7 FRANKFURT, DE (FRA)
• 8 PARIS, FR (CDG)
• 9 AMSTERDAM, NL (AMS)
• 10 DENVER, CO (DEN)
• 11 LAS VEGAS, NV (LAS)
• 12 PHOENIX, AZ (PHX)
• 13 MADRID, ES (MAD)
• 14 BANGKOK, TH (BKK)
• 15 NEW YORK, NY (JFK)
• 16 MINNEAPOLIS/ST PAUL, MN (MSP)
• 17 HONG KONG, CN (HKG)
• 18 HOUSTON, TX (IAH)
• 19 DETROIT, MI (DTW)
• 20 BEIJING, CN (PEK)
• 21 SAN FRANCISCO, CA (SFO)
• 22 NEWARK, NJ (EWR)
• 23 LONDON, GB (LGW)
• 24 ORLANDO, FL (MCO)
• 25 TOKYO, JP (NRT)
• 26 SINGAPORE, SG (SIN)
• 27 MIAMI, FL (MIA)
• 28 SEATTLE/TACOMA, WA (SEA)
• 29 TORONTO, ON, CA (YYZ)
• 30 PHILADELPHIA, PA (PHL)