Dubai International Airport has claimed the top spot as the world’s busiest airport by available seats in the first quarter of 2025.
With 15.1 million departing seats, it has outpaced Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport by a significant margin of 2 million seats, according to the latest Cirium Diio data.
According to simpleflying.com, these airports are so significant that more than one in every six of the world’s available seats touches them.
Domestic markets, including in the US, Japan, China, and India, are necessarily strongly represented. However, the number one entry, Dubai, is obviously entirely international. Not only is it first overall, but also, of course, for international capacity. Atlanta is firmly first for domestic seats.
Dubai versus Atlanta
Why is Dubai first? Context is critical, so let’s build it up. When flights are considered, Dubai ranks a respectable 14th globally. It has more departures in Q1 than Amsterdam, Houston Intercontinental, and Miami.
Due to Emirates’ 116-strong A380 subfleet, along with the rest of its all-widebody equipment, Dubai has 278 seats/flight—20 more than number two, Doha. Dubai is comfortably the world’s leading airport for international widebody flights.
Combined with Dubai’s 2% year-on-year flight increase, it is no wonder the UAE airport is ranked first in those three months. But do not be misled. It was first in Q1 2024, too. Dubai’s pole position has been artificially influenced by Atlanta’s capacity, which is still below its pre-pandemic level.
Atlanta has 1.3% fewer seats for sale than in the pre-pandemic Q1 2019, resulting from a 10.5% drop in flights. Regional jet use has fallen significantly, offset by larger-gauge aircraft. Dubai is the opposite: seats are up by 5.4%, resulting from 13.2% more flights.
As shown below, Atlanta will regain the throne from Q2 onward, just as it did last year. Indeed, as the summer approaches, Atlanta’s capacity rises significantly, with seats up by 13.3% in Q3 (July-September) compared to Q1, although the schedules will be fine-tuned. In contrast, Dubai grows by just 2.6% in the peak quarter, when it is exceptionally hot in the Middle East.
Dubai has gained 22 more destinations
Using Cirium to compare Dubai’s route map in Q1 2025 with the same three months in 2024 indicates that 22 more passenger destinations are now served, as shown below.
Several were previously part of the airport’s network. For example, Adelaide and Lagos returned to Emirates’ map in October 2024. The Nigerian destination was not served for two years due to the inability to repatriate currency. Edinburgh flights were reintroduced in November, and the route switched to the A350-900 on January 3.
Most are new to Dubai’s map. They include Khost, Afghanistan, introduced by both Ariana Afghan and Kam Air in June 2024. However, only Kam Air continues to serve it, with the rare 737-300 deployed.
Emirates and its narrowbody sibling, flydubai, provide three in four Dubai seats.
They have introduced (or reintroduced) 10 of the 22 destinations. Perhaps the most intriguing is Bogotá, which saw Emirates’ 777-300ERs in June 2024. All flights operate via Miami with fifth freedom rights. The Colombian capital is Emirates’ longest passenger service when non-stop and one-stop routes are combined.
