Charlotte airport remained one of the busiest in the world last year, new report says

Charlotte Douglas International Airport is the fifth busiest airport worldwide for arrivals and departures, according to 2021 preliminary rankings from the Airports Council International.

For 2020, the Charlotte airport ranked sixth for arrivals and departures.

And the airport saw an even larger jump in ranking based on passenger numbers. CLT ranked sixth worldwide for passenger traffic in 2021, compared to 18th in 2020, the airport announced Monday.

“The rankings reflect the important role CLT played in the aviation industry last year as one of the busiest airports in the world,” CLT CEO Haley Gentry said in a statement. “Many people were eager to travel by air again in 2021, and we’re happy to partner with the airlines to serve these passengers coming through Charlotte.”

Ahead of Charlotte in the ranking were other U.S. airports: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Chicago O’Hare International Airport, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, and Denver International Airport.

The Charlotte airport saw 519,895 arrivals and departures last year. And CLT served 43 million passengers that year.

That number was up from the 27 million passengers who traveled through the airport in 2020 during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic.

Last year’s passenger total was still lower than the record-breaking 50.2 million passengers who traveled to, from and through CLT in 2019, according to the airport.

In January, airport officials predicted the airport would make a full recovery by 2023, a year earlier than previously anticipated.

And the airport has a busy year ahead with the completion of several construction milestones, according to CLT.

Last month, the airport opened a new lounge called The Club CLT on Concourse A. And over the year, the airport plans to open an expansion on Concourse E, the west end of the expanded terminal lobby and new concessions throughout the terminal.

This story was originally published April 11, 2022 at 5:23 PM.

Hannah Smoot

The Charlotte Observer

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Hannah Smoot covers business in Charlotte, focusing on health care and transportation. She has been covering COVID-19 in North Carolina since March 2020. She previously covered money and power at The Rock Hill Herald in South Carolina and is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.