The 10 Biggest Airports In The U.S. & The World

by SharonKurheg

I’ll never forget the first time I flew into Key West Int’l Airport (EYW). Silver Airways was very new, and, at the time, they had a great price to fly round trip from Orlando (where we live) to Ft. Myers to Key West. It was just a hop, skip and jump…MUCH faster than what would typically be an 8-hour drive.

But when we got to the airport, I was just amazed. As a strong ally of the LGBTQI+ community, I loved the artwork they have above the area where you enter the terminal.

But I was also momentarily surprised at how TINY the airport was. Don’t get me wrong…I had been to small airports before. But I don’t think I had ever noticed them like I did EWY. We’re talking about 1 runway, 2 terminals and 8 gates. For someone who grew up within a driving distance of JFK and EWR, and now lives 15 minutes from MCO, it was a little bit of a culture shock.

And then I started thinking of the large airports I had been to. I don’t necessarily mean the busiest…just the ones that were the biggest. Orlando (MCO) was surely one of them. DFW certainly had to be on the list too. And after doing some research, I was right on both counts.

Here are the largest airports in the world, based on the land area (not the number of passengers, size of terminals, etc. Just how much land is part of each airport):

10. Suvarnabhumi International (BKK) — Bangkok, Thailand — 12.51 sq. mi.
9. Cairo International (CAI) — Cairo, Egypt — 14 sq. mi.
8. Shanghai Pudong International (PVG) — Shanghai, China — 15.4 sq. mi.
7. George Bush Intercontinental (IAH) — Houston, TX, U.S.A. — 17.19 sq. mi.
6. Beijing Daxing International (PKX) — Beijing, China — 18 sq. mi.
5. Washington Dulles International (IAD) — Washington D.C., U.S.A. — 18.75 sq. mi.
4. Orlando International (MCO) — Orlando, FL, U.S.A. — 20.78 mi.
3. Dallas/Fort Worth International (DFW) — Dallas, TX, U.S.A. — 26.88 sq. mi.
2. Denver International (DEN) — Denver, CO, U.S.A. — 53.09 sq. mi.
1. King Fahd International (DMM) — Dammam, Saudi Arabia — 299.61 sq. mi.

Fun Fact! King Fahd International Airport is nearly as large as the 5 boroughs of New York City (combined, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island take up 302.6 sq. mi.). Yet it only hosts about 9.7 million passengers per year. Why does an airport with relatively so few passengers need nearly 300 square miles of land? There are lots of suggestions about why DMM, which is on land that used to be a United States airbase, but it appears the plans for DMM were bigger than what actually ever happened there.

Meanwhile, what about the U.S.? What are the biggest airports, in land mass, here at home?

10. Detroit Metropolitan  (DTW) – Detroit, MI – 7.57 sq. mi.
9. John F. Kennedy (JFK) – Queens, NY – 8.12 sq. mi.
8. San Francisco International (SFO) – San Francisco, CA – 8.13 sq. mi.
7. O’Hare International (ORD) – Chicago, IL – 11.92 sq. mi.
6. Salt Lake City International (SLC) – Salt Lake City, UT – 12.03 sq. mi.

The other 5, of course, are on the list above, as well:

5. George Bush Intercontinental (IAH) – Houston, TX – 17.19 sq. mi.
4. Washington Dulles International (IAD) – Washington D.C. – 18.75 sq. mi.
3. Orlando International (MCO) – Orlando, FL. – 20.78 mi.
2. Dallas/Fort Worth International (DFW) – Dallas, TX – 26.88 sq. mi.
1. Denver International (DEN) – Denver, CO – 53.09 sq. mi.

Of course, size has nothing to do with how busy an airport is (DMM shows that example very well). ATL is still the busiest airport in the world, even though it “only” takes up 7.34 sq. mi.

Want to comment on this post? Great! Read this first to help ensure it gets approved.

Want to sponsor a post, write something for Your Mileage May Vary, or put ads on our site? Click here for more info.

Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and sign up to get emailed notifications of when we post.

Whether you’ve read our articles before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!

This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary

5 comments

JinxedK March 9, 2023 - 2:56 pm

Your experience with EYW sounds like mine with Kushiro (KUH) and Okadama (OKD) in Japan which have 1 terminal 3 gates and 1 terminal with no airbridges respectively.

Reply
RIc March 9, 2023 - 3:25 pm

Now what about the largest terminals?

Reply
SharonKurheg March 9, 2023 - 3:38 pm

I’ll see what I can do 😉

Reply
Stephen March 9, 2023 - 11:10 pm

I think you missed a few large airports, PIT and OKC both come to mind

Reply
SharonKurheg March 9, 2023 - 11:15 pm

You’re not wrong! Turns out PIT is 15.62 sq. mi. – so it should be #6. OKC is 12.63 sq. mi. My bad.

Reply

Leave a Comment