As Travel Surges at CLT, Here’s Where Charlotte Airport Now Ranks Among Busiest in US
By Jenna Martin – Managing Editor, Digital , Charlotte Business Journal
After three years of Covid impacting passenger traffic, Charlotte Douglas International Airport returned to record-setting trends in 2023. CLT reached 53.4 million passengers last year, up 11.9% from 2022. But how does CLT compare to other airports across the nation?
Airports Council International – North America released its 2023 traffic summary earlier this month. That report included data on passengers, cargo and airport operations for 275 airports in North America.
CLT logged the 23rd-highest percentage increase in total passenger counts year over year.
Raleigh-Durham International Airport nearly doubled CLT’s growth rate, though its passenger numbers are much lower than at Charlotte Douglas. RDU reported 14.5 million passengers last year, up 22.6%.
Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport in Quebec had the highest uptick in total passengers last year at 32.5%. It ended the year with 21.2 passengers.
Among the 12 North American airports with at least 50 million annual passengers recorded in 2023, just five grew their counts at a higher rate than at the Charlotte airport. The accompanying slideshow provides a closer look.
As for the busiest airports in North America based on passenger counts, Charlotte Douglas ranked ninth. Its number of domestic travelers rose 11.2% to 48.19 million last year and international passengers increased 21.4% to 4.25 million.
These North American airports had the highest number of passengers in 2023:
- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Atlanta: 104.6 million — up 11.7% from 2022
- Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Dallas/Fort Worth: 81.7 million — up 11.4%
- Denver International Airport, Denver: 77.8 million — up 12.3%
- Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles: 75 million — up 13.8%
- O’Hare International Airport, Chicago: 73.9 million — up 8.1%
- John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City: 62.4 million — up 13%
- Orlando International Airport, Orlando, Florida: 57.7 million — up 15.1%
- Harry Reid International Airport, Las Vegas: 57.6 million — up 9.4%
- Charlotte Douglas International Airport, Charlotte: 53.4 million — up 11.9%
- Miami International Airport, Miami: 52.3 million — up 3.3%
Airports, as a whole, continued last year to recover from the pandemic. North American airports grew passenger counts by 11.9% collectively. International passenger traffic at those airports soared 27.9% year over year, while domestic passengers increased 9.5%.
When looking at aircraft movements, CLT ranked seventh among North American airports — the same as last year. The Charlotte airport had 539,066 total takeoffs and landings in 2023, up 6.6% from 2022.
In terms of cargo, Charlotte Douglas placed 33rd. The airport handled 173,961 metric tons of cargo last year, down 7.6% from 2022.
Among airports worldwide, CLT had the 22nd-highest passenger count in 2023 — down from No. 19 in 2022. Its aircraft movements ranked seventh globally, while its cargo operations came in at No. 120 worldwide.
The Airports Council International released those preliminary figures in the spring.
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