AIRPLANESPOTTING.NET

Made for Spotters by a Spotter

World Airport Guide

In this section you will find links to airports worldwide containing information about the best spotting locations, including satellite images to show you where these locations are.


Click here to download my FREE "Spotters' Guide to the World's Top 15 Busiest Airports", containing detailed information for aviation enthusiasts on the fifteen busiest airports in the world in terms of passenger numbers.

Each airport overview contains the following items:

  • Full airport name & IATA / ICAO codes
  • Nr of passengers in 2008 (final statistics), ranking
  • Nr of passengers January-November 2009, year-to-date ranking
  • Traffic movement statistics, final ranking in 2008
  • General airport information
  • Terminal and runway layout
  • Main operators
  • Airport's website address
  • Google satellite image indicating the best spotting locations, followed by a description
  • Air Traffic Control frequencies for those among us using air-band scanners

The 32-page ebook is in Adobe PDF format and has a file size of 3 MB. 

Last update: March 2010.

World Airports Top 30

The table below lists the 30 busiest airports in passenger numbers in 2008. Click on the airport name to go to its dedicated page.

 Rank Airport
 IATA code
 Nr of passengers
 1 Atlanta Hartsfield  ATL 90,039,280
 2 Chicago O'Hare
 ORD 69,353,876
 3
 London Heathrow
 LHR 67,056,379
 4 Tokyo Haneda
 HND 66,754,829
 5 Paris Roissy - Charles de Gaulle  CDG 60,874,681
 6 Los Angeles International LAX 59,497,539
 7 Dallas - Fort Worth
 DFW 57,093,187 
 8 Beijing Capital
 PEK 55,937,289
 9 Frankfurt Rhein-Main FRA 53,467,450
 10 Denver International
 DEN 51,245,334
 11 Madrid Barajas
 MAD 50,824,435
 12 Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok
 HKG 47,857,746
 13 New York JFK
 JFK 47,807,816
 14 Amsterdam Schiphol
 AMS 47,430,019
 15 Las Vegas McCarran
 LAS 43,208,724
 16 Houston George Bush Intercontinental
 IAH 41,709,389
 17 Phoenix Sky Harbor PHX 39,891,193
 18 Bangkok Suvarnabhumi
 BKK 38,603,490
 19 Singapore Changi
 SIN 37,694,824
 20 Dubai International  DXB 37,441,440
 21 San Francisco International SFO 37,234,592
 22 Orlando McCoy International  MCO 35,660,742
 23 Newark Liberty International EWR 35,360,848
 24 Detroit Wayne County
 DTW 35,135,828
 25 Rome Fiumicino - Leonardo da Vinci FCO 35,132,224
 26 Charlotte Douglas International
 CLT 34,739,020
 27 Munich Franz Josef Strauss  MUC 34,530,593
 28 London Gatwick LGW 34,214,740
 29 Miami International  MIA 34,063,531
 30 Minneapolis-St Paul International MSP 34,056,443
  Tokyo Narita
 NRTNr 25 in 2007