JFK Airport No Longer Among World's Busiest, Report Finds

NEW YORK, NY — New York has nothing on New Delhi. John F. Kennedy Airport fell of the list of the world's busiest airports last year as Asian airports drove worldwide growth in air travel, according to a report published Monday.

New York City's flagship airport doesn't appear on the Airports Council International's preliminary list of the 20 airports with the most passengers in 2017. JFK fell at least five spots after ranking 16th in 2016, when it drew 59.1 million travelers.

Indira Ghandi International Airport in New Delhi, India rose from No. 22 to supplant JFK at No. 16 with 63.4 million passengers. Indian and Chinese airports were among the biggest contributors to a 6.6 percent increase in the number of travelers flying last year, the airports council found.

"The world’s airports continue to be a vital link in the economic multiplier effect that aviation provides and the role it plays as an enabler for global commerce is growing," Angela Gittens, the director general of ACI World, said in a statement.

Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport once again topped the list with 103.9 million passengers. Beijing, Dubai, Tokyo and Los Angeles rounded out the top five.

JFK is still popular with world travelers, the ACI found. The airport attracted 32.4 million international passengers last year, enough to maintain its No. 19 rank for total international passenger traffic.

Here's the full list of the world's 20 busiest airports for 2017, according to the Airports Council International.

1. Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Atlanta, United States
2. Beijing Capital International Airport, Beijing, China
3. Dubai International Airport, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
4. Tokyo International (Haneda) Airport, Tokyo, Japan
5. Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles, United States
6. O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, United States
7. Heathrow Airport, London, United Kingdom
8. Hong Kong International Airport, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
9. Pudong International Airport, Shanghai, China
10. Aéroport de Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Paris, France
11. Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Amsterdam, Netherlands
12. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Dallas, United States
13. Guangzhou Bai Yun International Airport Atatürk, Guangzhou, China
14. Flughafen Frankfurt/Main, Frankfurt, Germany
15. Atatürk International Airport, Istanbul, Turkey
16. Indira Ghandi International Airport, New Delhi, India
17. Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Jakarta, Indonesia
18. Singapore Changi Airport, Singapore, Singapore
19. Incheon International Airport, Incheon, Republic of Korea
20. Denver International Airport, Denver, United States

(Lead image: Photo by Chris Parypa Photography/Shutterstock)