The world's top 10 airports ranked by passenger numbers for 2001

Rank

Airport

Total Passengers

% Change

1

ATLANTA, GA (ATL)

75,849,375

-5.4

2

CHICAGO, IL (ORD)

66,805,339

-6.9

3

LOS ANGELES, CA (LAX)

61,024,541

-8.3

4

LONDON, GB (LHR)

60,743,154

-6

5

TOKYO, JP (HND)

58,692,688

4.1

6

DALLAS/FT WORTH AIRPORT, TX (DFW)

55,150,689

-9.2

7

FRANKFURT, DE (FRA)

48,559,980

-1.6

8

PARIS, FR (CDG)

47,996,223

-.5

9

AMSTERDAM, NL (AMS)

39,538,483

-.2

10

DENVER, CO (DEN)

36,086,751

-6.9

Hartsfield, Atlanta

Hartsfield Atlanta Airport is situated on the site of an abandoned racetrack owned by a Coca-Cola magnate. The City Council took a 5 year lease on 287 acres of land in 1925, rent free, if you can believe it, with the option to buy the land for $100,000. They exercised the option in 1930 and the rest as they say, is history. The airport is named after William Berry Hartsfield, the city alderman who found the site and pushed for the airfield. Hartsfield went on to head the city's new aviation committee and served as Mayor of Atlanta from 1938 to 1961, the year the airport terminal was built.

Information supplied by Airports Council International, the organization that represents most of the world's airports. http://www.airports.org/