Busiest year ever for Las Vegas airport, but where does it rank worldwide?

Greg Haas
·2 min read

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Harry Reid International Airport was ranked as the fifth-busiest airport in the world in 2023, according to a new survey released by Airports Council International (ACI).

That is, if we’re talking about takeoffs and landings. The ACI report, released on Monday in Montreal, provided a variety of rankings: aircraft movements (takeoffs and landings), passengers, international passengers and cargo.

In terms of total passengers, Las Vegas was ranked No. 12 in the world. And that’s the stat that’s generally accepted in ordering the busiest airports.

So how is it that Las Vegas is so much higher on the list of takeoffs and landings? The reason is fairly simple. Recall what happened the week the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix lit up the Strip. There were reports that airplane parking was maxed out. Social media posts by jet-setters complained that their pilots had to drop them off and then fly elsewhere to park.

Joe Rajchel, Public Information Administrator at Reid Airport and the Clark County Department of Aviation, said Las Vegas is unique because of the variety of operations. In 2023, Las Vegas climbed from No. 8 to No. 5, with 611,806 takeoffs and landings. That’s a 5.3% increase over 2022, and a 10.6% increase compared to 2019, the last full year before the pandemic.

And F1 isn’t the only attraction that brings private planes to Las Vegas.

Add to that: Helicopter tour operators working on the west side of the airport provide a steady stream of activity.

Those private planes and tour helicopters produce a lot of takeoffs and landings, but they don’t add as much to the passenger counts. We reached out to Signature Aviation and Atlantic Aviation, but neither company has replied to our inquiries.

Harry Reid International Airport established a new high for passenger traffic in 2023, a record 57.6 million passengers — a 9.4% increase over 2022.

The list of the world’s busiest airports and the number of passengers:

  1. Atlanta, USA (ATL): 104,653,451

  2. Dubai, UAE (DXB): 86,994,365

  3. Dallas/Fort Worth, USA (DFW): 81,755,538

  4. London, UK (LHR): 79,183,364

  5. Tokyo, Japan (HND): 78,719,302

  6. Denver, USA (DEN): 77,837,917

  7. Istanbul, Turkey (IST): 76,027,321

  8. Los Angeles, USA (LAX): 75,050,875

  9. Chicago, USA (ORD): 73,894,226

  10. New Delhi, India (DEL): 72,214,841

Las Vegas came in at No. 12 on the list.

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