Soaring Numbers: The World's 10 Busiest Airports In October

More than 3,700 airports worldwide have scheduled passenger flights in October. Of these, the ten busiest facilities collectively have more than 16,400 daily movements (takeoffs and landings combined). Compared to last October, Chicago O’Hare’s strong growth means it has overtaken Atlanta for the top spot.

One in six of the world’s flights will be to or from the ten busiest facilities, which is a phenomenal proportion. As you’d expect, some of the US’s top fortress hubs feature highly. Compared to October 2024, Tokyo Haneda is no longer in the top ten list, replaced by the fast-growing Istanbul Airport.

The World’s 10 Busiest Airports In October

The results would be quite different if other measurements were used. For example, Atlanta would be first in seats for sale and passengers. Dubai would be number one based on available seat miles, because of its huge long-haul operation on many large widebodies. Of course, passengers are retrospective; they can’t be used when examining future activity.

Apart from London Heathrow,Istanbul Airport, and Shanghai Pudong, the rest of the ten entries revolve around substantial domestic operations. Had Beijing Daxing not opened in 2019, which split flights to/from the Chinese capital, Beijing Capital would certainly have been within the top ten list.

Why Has O’Hare Overtaken Atlanta For Movements?

O’Hare’s elevation in the ranking is based on comparing takeoffs/landings in October with what was available 12 months ago. O’Hare has been number one globally for movements in each month since April 2025. Its high position is from a combination of four factors: being a hub to both American Airlines and United Airlines; enormous activity overall; being the world’s top airport for regional jets; and fast growth.

O’Hare will have 2,418 daily passenger movements in October, up from 2,124 last year. This increase is primarily due to American, which has doubled down at its Illinois hub, with flights up by a quarter (!) in a year. In contrast, United has grown by 11%, although that’s substantial in itself. United remains O’Hare’s top operator. It’s partly this that led it to publicly saying that American loses around $800 million a year in Chicago.

American’s growth in the Windy City is somewhat artificial. While the oneworld member now has 912 daily movements there, they remain down from 6% compared to October 2019, which was shortly before the world temporarily changed due to the pandemic. It has prioritized growth at other hubs. Its refocus in 2025 could have been partly because of its desire to obtain more gates there, although it eventually lost out to United.

American Has Added 20 Routes From O’Hare…

Looking at how American’s Chicago network in October 2025 is different from October 2024 indicates that 20 destinations have been added. It may be different at other times, and some new seasonal services may have already ended for this year.

The 20 destinations are Akron/Canton, Anchorage, Bismarck, Boise, Chattanooga, Colorado Springs, Destin-Ft. Walton Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, Halifax, Hilton Head, Honolulu, Idaho Falls, Madrid, Mexico City, Naples (Italy), Roanoke, San Juan, Savannah, Spokane, and Wilmington (North Carolina). As usual with such things, most of these places have been served before.