By: Economy Middle east

Dubai International Airport (DXB) retained its position as the world’s busiest international airport in 2025 with 62.4 million international seats, maintaining its long-standing lead from 2024, 2023 and 2019.

Airline capacity at DXB has continued to grow strongly, increasing by 4 percent year-on-year, and is now 16 percent above 2019 levels.

The latest OAG report also reveals that DXB had 13.5 million more international seats than the next biggest international airport, London Heathrow (LHR), in 2025.

DXB remains the second-busiest airport globally

Based on total seat capacity, both international and domestic, DXB remained the second-busiest airport globally, although busier than Atlanta for some months of the year. The busiest airports are concentrated largely in North America and Asia due to the very large domestic markets in the United States and China, with four airports in North America and three in Asia, alongside two in Europe and one in the Middle East.

Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL) retained its position as the World’s Busiest Airport in 2025 with 63.1 million seats, maintaining its long-standing lead from both 2024 and 2019. Airline capacity at ATL has increased by 1 percent compared to 2024 and is at a similar level to 2019, behind by just 221,207 seats.

Meanwhile, Tokyo Haneda Airport (HND) came in third place with 55.4 million seats, showing no significant year-on-year change, but still 1 percent above 2019 levels.

DXB leads in total international seat capacity

Based on the total international seat capacity alone, DXB emerged once again as the leader. In second place came London Heathrow Airport (LHR), with 49 million international seats, a 1 percent increase compared to 2024 and 4 percent above 2019 levels.

Seoul Incheon International Airport (ICN) retained third position with 43 million seats, growing by 3 percent compared to 2024 and now sitting 2 percent above 2019, signalling a full recovery in international travel at the airport. Meanwhile, Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) ranked fourth with 42.6 million seats, a 3 percent year-on-year increase, bringing capacity back in line with 2019 levels.

Another key mention in 2025 was Doha (DOH), which retained tenth place in the top ten busiest international airports with 32.7 million seats, up 1 percent year-on-year and 20 percent ahead of 2019.

Istanbul Airport (IST) also recorded very strong growth in 2025, reaching 41.2 million international seats, a 7 percent increase from 2024. IST has seen the largest growth compared to 2019, up 27 percent, reflecting its rapid emergence as a major global hub.

Record-breaking traffic

According to the latest statistics, DXB achieved the highest quarterly traffic in its 65-year history in Q3 2025, welcoming 24.2 million guests between July and September, a 1.9 percent increase year-on-year. The strong third-quarter performance lifted total traffic for the first nine months to 70.1 million guests, representing a 2.1 percent increase over the same period last year.

The airport’s twelve-month rolling traffic at the end of September reached a record 93.8 million guests. Aircraft movements also remained robust, with 115,000 total flights recorded in the third quarter. Between January and September, DXB handled 336,000 flights across all categories, up 2.7 percent year on year. The average number of passengers per aircraft at the end of September stood at 213.

India retained DXB’s top country market in the first nine months of the year with 8.8 million guests, followed by Saudi Arabia at 5.5 million, the United Kingdom at 4.6 million, Pakistan at 3.2 million and the United States at 2.4 million. Among city destinations, London led with 2.8 million guests, followed by Riyadh with 2.3 million, Mumbai with 1.8 million, Jeddah with 1.7 million and New Delhi with 1.6 million.

DXB also continued to serve as a key gateway for international tourism, with Malaysia, Vietnam, the Czech Republic, Uzbekistan and Denmark ranking among the most popular destinations for outbound leisure travel.