Hartsfield-Jackson nips Chicago's O'hare for second year in a row
By JIM THARPE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 01/04/07
Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport — for the second year in a row — retained its title as the world's busiest airport, the Federal Aviation Administration reported Thursday.
Atlanta's airport recorded 976,307 takeoffs and landings in 2006, compared to 958,643 for Chicago's O'Hare, which came in second. Dallas Fort-Worth came in third with 702,713.
The numbers were down a bit compared to last year, said Kathleen Bergen, FAA spokesman for the agency's Atlanta office, which oversees the Southern region. Atlanta's air traffic was down about 0.4 percent, while Chicago was off about 1.4 percent and Dallas about 2.2 percent.
"We attribute that to a bit of a slower pace in the industry in general," Bergen said.
O'Hare came in ahead of Atlanta from 2001-2004, but Atlanta took the lead in 2005 and retained it last year, according to FAA statistics.
Atlanta has a decided advantage when it comes to the "world's busiest" bragging rights. The city has only one airport, while some major metro areas, like Chicago have two. Midway Airport also serves Chicago and had 298,547 takeoffs and landings in 2006, an increase of about 2.7 percent over the year before.
GO ATL!!!!
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