Countries With The Most Airports In The World

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in the U.S. state of Georgia is the United States' busiest airport.

Without a doubt, air travel is one of the most important aspects of international travel today. It allows not only for the movement of both people and goods in and out of a country, but it also opens up a country to other aspects of development such as trade. Arguably, next to the internet, air travel is seen as one of the main driving forces of globalization. Cheap, accessible air travel has indeed made the world a tight-knit society encouraging growth, discovery, integration, and progression in different spheres. In a bid to encourage and improve air travel, countries that have a huge number of visitors and cargo such as the Unites States of America have a huge number of airports to cater for the large volume of air freight, be it people or goods. Next to the US, we have countries such as Brazil, Mexico, Canada, Russia and Argentina all boasting a huge number of airports, over 9000 airports among the four of them. Following is a look at some of the countries with the highest number of airports in the world.

Countries With The Highest Number Of Airports In The World

The United States

Being among the top 10 most populous countries in the world, and the country receiving the most visitors as of 2015, it is understandable why the United States boasts of having the highest number of airports in the world. At 14,712 airports, the US sees millions of people travel through its airports every year. This can be attributed to the perception that America is the richest and most powerful nation in the world which draws in a lot of people looking for a slice of this success. The Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the largest and busiest airport in the United States in terms of both passengers served and takeoffs and landings. It has served over 89 million passengers every year since 2005.


Much of South America is a tourism heaven, and Brazil leads the pack in this regard. This can clearly be seen from its massive number of airports, 4093 in total, making it the country with the second most airports in the world. Coupled with the vibrant culture that is to be found in Brazil, a lot of people come for the weather and the feeling of a home away from home. Based on passenger traffic, the busiest airport in Brazil is the Guarulhos International Airport having served close to 40 million passengers in 2014.


Russia comes in as the number three country with the most airports in the world. Russia is home to a vibrant air community, was home to numerous plane manufacturers and testing sites during the world war and is one of the largest countries in the world. All of these factors combined lead to a huge number of airports in Russia. It is interesting to note that the largest International Airport in Russia is the Moscow Domodedovo Airport. This airport is named after Domodedovo, a town in Russia.


Mexico comes in fourth place with 1,714 airports. It is important to note that although Mexico has such a large number of airports, most of them are small or medium-sized. The Benito Juárez International Airport is the busiest airport in Mexico serving over 38 million passengers in 2015.

Other Countries With an Abundance of Airports

Although the four countries above have the most airports in the world, these numbers and the countries above are subject to change, and will likely do so as these and other countries develop their infrastructures. Following the four countries above, we have countries such as Canada, Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, and South Africa, which are all boasting huge numbers of airports as well, with around 5,000 airports collectively between the five of them.

Countries With The Highest Number Of Airports In The World

RankCountryTotal number of airports or airfields recognizable from the air
1United States13,513

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