by Donald Wood
Last updated: 12:11 PM ET, Wed March 13, 2019

For the 21st year in a row, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport was named the busiest passenger airport in the world.

According to the Airports Council International's preliminary world traffic report, the Atlanta airport welcomed more than 107 million passengers in 2018, a 3.3 percent increase in traffic over the previous year.

In terms of the world's busiest airport for international travel, Dubai International Airport took the crown after welcoming 88.8 million passengers in 2018. The total is a 1.3 percent increase from the same period in 2017.

Around the world, the global passenger traffic increased by six percent to 8.8 billion last year, with the top 20 airports growing by 4.7 percent and welcoming more than 1.5 billion passengers.

"It is heartening to see that global passenger traffic growth has remained resilient in the face of an increasingly tense and challenging geopolitical climate," ACI World Director General Angela Gittens said in a statement.

"With the cost of travel decreasing in many markets, and a burgeoning middle class growing in emerging markets, passenger traffic growth has remained irrepressible," Gittens continued.

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