Skift Take
The American and US Air merger will likely alter the game in Dallas and Charlotte, and create much more fluid lists in 2013 and 2014.
Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport continued its run as the busiest U.S. airport as its 2012 enplaned passengers rose 3.3% to 45.7 million, according to the rankings from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics announced earlier today.
Phoenix dropped two slots in 2012 compared with the prior year and Charlotte cracked the top ten in eighth place after just missing the list at eleventh in 2011.
While Atlanta was busiest overall, New York-JFK led the nation in international traffic. Rankings in the top ten list for international airports was unchanged from 2011.
Here are the BTS rankings for the Top 10 U.S. airports for scheduled domestic and international enplanements by U.S. and foreign airlines in 2012:
Top 10 airports
Passenger numbers in millions
| 2012 Rank | Airport | 2012 Enplaned Passengers | 2011 Rank | 2011 Enplaned Passengers | Pct. Change 2011-2012 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Atlanta | 45.713 | 1 | 44.249 | 3.3 |
| 2 | Chicago O’Hare | 32.063 | 2 | 31.841 | 0.7 |
| 3 | Los Angeles | 31.293 | 3 | 30.505 | 2.6 |
| 4 | Dallas/Ft. Worth | 27.988 | 4 | 27.430 | 2.0 |
| 5 | Denver | 25.776 | 5 | 25.635 | 0.6 |
| 6 | New York JFK | 24.423 | 6 | 23.586 | 3.5 |
| 7 | San Francisco | 21.272 | 7 | 20.049 | 6.1 |
| 8 | Charlotte | 20.017 | 11 | 19.007 | 5.3 |
| 9 | Las Vegas | 19.774 | 9 | 19.668 | 0.5 |
| 10 | Phoenix | 19.537 | 8 | 19.727 | -1.0 |
Top 10 airports by international traffic
Passenger numbers in thousands
| 2012 Rank | Airport | 2012 Enplaned Passengers | 2011 Rank | 2011 Enplaned Passengers | Pct. Change 2011-2012 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York JFK | 12,334.2 | 1 | 11,706.1 | 5.4 |
| 2 | Miami | 9,314.5 | 2 | 8,828.3 | 5.5 |
| 3 | Los Angeles | 8,273.4 | 3 | 8,065.3 | 2.6 |
| 4 | Newark | 5,577.1 | 4 | 5,710.0 | -2.3 |
| 5 | Chicago O’Hare | 5,055.2 | 5 | 5,150.7 | -1.9 |
| 6 | Atlanta | 4,775.5 | 6 | 4,675.6 | 2.1 |
| 7 | San Francisco | 4,534.8 | 7 | 4,334.5 | 4.6 |
| 8 | Houston Bush | 4,220.5 | 8 | 4,198.4 | 0.5 |
| 9 | Washington Dulles | 3,205.1 | 9 | 3,118.0 | 2.8 |
| 10 | Dallas/Ft. Worth | 2,885.1 | 10 | 2,603.0 | 10.8 |
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Photo credit: Display screens at Atlanta's airport. Chase O'Black / Flickr