News: Chicago O'Hare beats Atlanta

Chicago O'Hare has overtaken Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International to become the world's busiest airport when measured by aircraft movements. During 2018 O'Hare (ORD) handled 903,747 arrivals and departures while Atlanta (ATL) lagged behind on 895,502, thanks to a 4% increase at the Illinois facility.

It is the first time since 2014 that ORD beat ATL for the aircraft movement honours, although as yet unreleased passenger numbers for 2018 will certainly place ATL in top spot again.

Chicago O'Hare was the world's busiest airport in 2018 when measured by aircraft movements. (Jun Sieta)

However, Atlanta's passenger throughput will again have topped 100m, putting it comfortably in the world number one spot ahead of Beijing. According to Federal Aviation Authority figures, measured by the total number of arrivals and departures, the top ten airports in the USA during 2018 were:

Airport Movements

1. Chicago O’Hare 903,747

2. Atlanta 895,502

3. Los Angeles 707,833

4. Dallas/Fort Worth 667,213

5. Denver 603,403

6. Charlotte, North Carolina 550,013

7. Las Vegas 539,866

8. San Francisco 470,166

9. Houston Bush Intercontinental 466,740

10. New York JFK 461,054

O'Hare beat Atlanta for aircraft movements due greater use of smaller regional jets in the Chicago market.

Atlanta came second to O'Hare for aircraft movements in 2018. (formulanone)

The two largest carriers at ORD, United Airlines and American Airlines, still have fleets of regional jets while Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines has reduced its dependence on smaller aircraft.