Hong Kong International Airport has secured a spot in a list of the world’s 10 busiest international airports for 2024. The report by global travel data provider OAG found that the city’s aviation transport hub increased its seat capacity by 40% since 2023, earning it the No. 9 position in a list that includes regional rivals Singapore Changi and Seoul Incheon International. However, the airport has yet to return to its 2019 pre-pandemic capacity levels, when it was the third-busiest airport in the world.

Why is Hong Kong among the world’s busiest airports?

OAG arrives at its ranking by calculating the scheduled one-way international airline capacity for the year. In 2024, Hong Kong boasted a seat capacity of 34.6 million — a 40% increase from the previous year, which took the airport up two spots to enter the Top 10. However, the city underperformed by 23% compared to 2019, when it outranked regional competitors like Singapore and Seoul.

RANKINGAIRPORT
1Dubai International
2London Heathrow
3Seoul Incheon International
4Singapore Changi
5Amsterdam
6Istanbul
7Paris Charles de Gaulle
8Frankfurt International
9Hong Kong International
10Doha
The world’s busiest international airports in 2024 (© OAG)

Dubai International Airport held on to the No. 1 ranking with its seat capacity of 60.23 million, followed by London Heathrow in second place with 48.35 million seats. Seoul (41.63 million), Singapore (41.53 million), and Amsterdam (39.99 million) rounded out the Top 5. The world’s busiest global airport — which is decided based on domestic and international flight capacity — was Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International.

Hong Kong’s plans for aviation expansion

Last year, the Hong Kong airport handled 53.1 million passengers — 34.3% more than it did in 2023. The global hub also opened its third runway in November and aims to serve 120 million passengers in the next 10 years. The city’s flagship carrier Cathay Pacific and its low-cost subsidiary HK Express will take advantage of this development to expand their combined networks to include 100 passenger routes by the end of 2025.

Another recent study by OAG also found that HK Express was the fastest-growing budget carrier of 2024 as the airline boosted its flights by 46% last year. The report also revealed that Hong Kong-Taipei was the busiest international route in the world, growing 48% from the previous year to 6.78 million seats. The aviation hub was also deemed Asia’s Leading Airport for 2024 at the World Travel Awards, with two of its airline lounges taking home top honours as well.

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Header image credits: Henry Deng via Unsplash

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From the Middle East to the Far East and a couple of places in between, Anjali has lived in no fewer than seven cities in Asia, and has travelled extensively in the region. She worked as a lifestyle journalist in India before coming to Hong Kong, where her favourite thing to do is island-hopping with her daughter. You can check out her musings on motherhood, courtesy her Instagram profile.