AIRPLANESPOTTING

made for spotters

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 the 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 2009, ranking
  • Nr of passengers in 2008, ranking
  • Traffic movement statistics, ranking in 2009
  • 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 33-page ebook is in Adobe PDF format and has a file size of 3.2 MB. 

Last update: April 2010.

World Airports Top 30

The table below lists the 30 busiest airports in terms of passenger numbers in 2009. Click on the airport name to go to its dedicated page.

 Rank Airport
 IATA code
 Nr of passengers
 1 Atlanta Hartsfield  ATL 88,032,086
 2  London Heathrow
 LHR 66,037,578
 3 Beijing Capital
 PEK 65,329,851
 4 Chicago O'Hare
 ORD 64,397,891
 5 Tokyo Haneda
 HND 61,903,656
 6 Paris Roissy - Charles de Gaulle  CDG 57,884,954
 7 Los Angeles International LAX 56,518,605
 8 Dallas - Fort Worth
 DFW 56,030,457 
 9 Frankfurt Rhein-Main FRA 50,932,840
 10 Denver International
 DEN 50,167,485
 11 Madrid Barajas
 MAD 48,248,890
 12 New York JFK
 JFK 45,912,430
 13 Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok
 HKG 45,560,888
 14 Amsterdam Schiphol
 AMS 43,569,553
 15 Dubai International  DXB 40,901,752
 16
 Bangkok Suvarnabhumi
 BKK 40,500,269
 17 Las Vegas McCarran
 LAS 40,460,310
 18 Houston George Bush Intercontinental
 IAH 39,993,236
 19 Phoenix Sky Harbor PHX 37,824,982
 20
 San Francisco International
 SFO 37,366,287
 21 Singapore Changi
 SIN 37,203,978
 22 Guangzhou Baiyun International
 CAN 37,048,550
 23 Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta
 CGK 36,466,823
 24 Charlotte Douglas International
 CLT
34,577,808
 25
 Miami International
 MIA
 33,886,025
 26
 Orlando McCoy International
 MCO
 33,731,431
 27
 Rome Fiumicino - Leonardo da Vinci
 FCO 33,723,213
 28
 Sydney Kingsford-Smith International
 SYD 33,444,687
 29 Newark Liberty International EWR 33,400,626
 30 Munich Franz Josef Strauss  MUC 32,681,067