America’s 35 Busiest Airports…Can you guess number one?

We’ve all been there – running from gate to gate trying to make a connection at a major hub airport, scrambling our way through throngs of passengers. Each year US airports seem to be getting busier and busier. But which airports rank as the busiest in America? And how are these rankings measured?

Airports are typically ranked in two main ways;

1. Take-off and landings – the number of aircraft movements within the year
2. Passenger numbers – the number of passengers arriving and departing.

Although the most common ranking method is by passenger numbers, the FAA airport rankings list below represent the number of take-off and landings at American airports in 2014.

Chicago O’Hare has reclaimed the top spot after playing second fiddle to Atlanta for the past five years. Although when measured by passenger numbers, Atlanta still retains its number one position.

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1. Chicago O’Hare (881,933 total flight operations in 2014)
2. Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson (868,359)
3. Dallas/Fort Worth (679,820)
4. Los Angeles (636,706)
5. Denver (575,161)
6. Charlotte (545,294)
7. Las Vegas (522,067)
8. Houston Bush Intercontinental (508,940)
9. San Francisco (431,966)
10. New York JFK (431,236)
11. Phoenix (430,461)
12. Philadelphia (419,253)
13. Minneapolis/St. Paul (411,760)
14. Miami (402,663)
15. Newark (402,281)
16. Detroit (392,635)
17. New York LaGuardia (370,012)
18. Boston (368,307)
19. Seattle (340,478)
20. Salt Lake City (325,479)
21. Washington Dulles (314,512)
22. Honolulu (311,623)
23. Orlando (297,369)
24. Washington Reagan National (287,422)
25. Fort Lauderdale (258,394)
26. Chicago Midway (249,252)
27. Baltimore/Washington (245,121)
28. Memphis (219,853)
29. Portland, Ore. (216,253)
30. San Diego (191,765)
31. Tampa (184,038)
32. St. Louis (183,912)
33. Pittsburgh (135,293)
34. Cincinnati (133,619)
35. Cleveland (130,762)

How different will this list be compared to passenger numbers? Stand by for the final tally when the FAA are due to release the figures.