Miami Airport Regains Top Spot In Florida As Revived Foreign Travel Shakes Up U.S. Airport Rankings

After seven years in second place, Miami International Airport has passed Orlando International as the busiest in Florida, largely reflecting the surge in international traffic that has occurred at the Florida airports as well as most other U.S. gateways.

MIA said Friday that its 2022 passenger count totaled 50.6 million, while Orlando reported 50.1 million. The last time Miami led Orlando was in 2016. Before that, Miami had always been ahead.

Miami and Dade County airport, government and tourism officials led by Mayor Daniella Levine Cava will formally announce their traffic count this afternoon at the airport.

During 2022, Miami ‘s international traffic grew 64% to 21 million, while domestic traffic grew 21% to 29 million. In 2021, Miami was the busiest airport for international traffic in the U.S., when it had 13.2 million international passengers. It appears that New York Kennedy may have regained its spot as the number one U.S. gateway: JFK reported about 27 million international passengers in 2022.

At Orlando International, international traffic rose 184% to 5.5 million passengers, while domestic rose 16% to 44.6 million passengers. The overall increase was 24%.

A key factor at MIA was growth by hub carrier American Airlines, which in 2022 served 31.8 million Miami passengers, a million more than in 2019. American accounts for 63% of MIA passengers.

MIA is uniquely positioned as close to short-haul leisure destinations in the Caribbean as well as the key hub for South America, which was one of the international sectors that recovered the fastest from the pandemic.

Its record-breaking year included the addition of 15 international routes, including six to the Caribbean (two of them to Cuba), five to South America (three to Brazil, two to Colombia); three to Europe (Dublin, Paris Orly and Rome) and Vancouver, Canada.

Additionally, Spirit AirlinesSAVE
has grown at Miami to become the airport’s second biggest carrier.

Not only did Miami pass Orlando, it also moved up in the rankings of the world’s busiest airports, passing Charlotte Douglas International airport as well as Orlando.

Atlanta remained the world’s number one airport, with 93.7 passengers in 2022. Dallas/Fort Worth remained second with 73.3 million passengers in 2022. Los Angeles International had 65.9 million passengers, up 37%, to climb to third from fifth in 2021. Denver apparently fell to fourth with 63.6 passengers through November. Fifth was Chicago O’Hare with 62.8 million in 2022.

Sixth place remains in question, as some airports have not reported full-year statistics. Las Vegas had 48.3 million passengers through November: its 2022 growth rate was 35%. It may have passed Miami with 50.6 million and Orlando with 50.1 million. Charlotte Douglas, which was sixth in 2021, had 48 million in 2022, an increase of about 10%.

Atlanta was another airport with extremely rapid international growth. Overall Atlanta traffic rose 24% to 93,699,630, with domestic traffic up 20% to 83.7 million and international up 76% to 10 million.

Delta carried 75% of all Atlanta passengers, while partner Endeavor Air carried another 3%. The second biggest carrier at Atlanta was Southwest with 8%, while Spirit carried 3%, American carried 2.24 % and United carried 1.75%.

Interior largely domestic hubs like Charlotte and Denver showed relatively rapid growth during the pandemic, as hub carriers American and United boosted domestic service to leisure destinations. But 2022 was the year when international traffic began to return to most regions, with the exception of Asia.

In fact, what has really changed in airport traffic ratings since 2019 has been the temporary disappearance of non-U.S. airports. This year, various international airports are likely to make more rapid gains than U.S. airports.

In 2019, the world’s top eleven airports in order were Atlanta, Beijing, Los Angeles, Dubai, Tokyo, Chicago O’Hare, London Heathrow, Shanghai, Paris, Dallas/Fort Worth and Guangzhou.

In 2021,the world’s top eleven airports were Atlanta, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Chicago O’Hare, Los Angeles, Charlotte, Orlando, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Miami.