which cities are rising, and which are fading
50 cities, six rankings, measured the same way everywhere. No surveys. No paid places.
The busiest air gateways
Air passengers through the city’s airports in 2025, millions. · Fact
- 1 London UK 178.5M
- 2 New York USA 142.7M
- 3 Shanghai China 135.1M
- 4 Istanbul Türkiye 132.9M
- 5 Beijing China 124.4M
- 6 Paris France 107.0M
- 7 Chicago USA 104.2M
- 8 Los Angeles USA 102.2M
- 9 Dubai UAE 95.2M
- 10 Bangkok Thailand 94.5M
- 11 Chengdu China 90.2M
- 12 Delhi India 78.1M
- 13 São Paulo Brazil 71.7M
- 14 Singapore Singapore 70.0M
- 15 Madrid Spain 68.2M
- 16 Shenzhen China 66.5M
- 17 Hong Kong China 61.0M
- 18 Bengaluru India 43.8M
- 19 Sydney Australia 42.5M
- 20 Riyadh Saudi Arabia 40.8M
- 21 Santiago Chile 26.5M
- 22 Berlin Germany 26.1M
- – Abidjan Côte d'Ivoire not reported
- – Addis Ababa Ethiopia not reported
- – Baghdad Iraq not reported
- – Bogotá Colombia not reported
- – Buenos Aires Argentina not reported
- – Cairo Egypt not reported
- – Dar es Salaam Tanzania not reported
- – Dhaka Bangladesh not reported
- – Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam not reported
- – Jakarta Indonesia not reported
- – Johannesburg South Africa not reported
- – Karachi Pakistan not reported
- – Khartoum Sudan not reported
- – Kinshasa DR Congo not reported
- – Kolkata India not reported
- – Lagos Nigeria not reported
- – Lahore Pakistan not reported
- – Lima Peru not reported
- – Luanda Angola not reported
- – Manila Philippines not reported
- – Mexico City Mexico not reported
- – Moscow Russia not reported
- – Mumbai India not reported
- – Nairobi Kenya not reported
- – Rio de Janeiro Brazil not reported
- – Seoul South Korea not reported
- – Tehran Iran not reported
- – Tokyo Japan not reported
Source: airport operators and national aviation authorities (one per airport) · 2025 data. 28 cities have no published figure from a primary source yet. Cities with no full-year figure from the airport or its regulator show as not reported; most African, South Asian and Latin American airports publish none yet. New York: Port Authority total for its airports, rounded; Los Angeles: five airports in the region; Dubai: DXB only; Dubai World Central (about 1m) not yet published for the full year; Bangkok: Don Mueang given as 31.6m in AOT's summary and 31.7m in its chart; Delhi: summed from the operator's monthly filings; São Paulo: Guarulhos rounded by its operator; Hong Kong: rounded by the airport authority; Sydney: published as 'more than 42.54 million'.
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