Up from fifth in 2022 according to the article and 28th in 2021 according to Wiki.
I assume the Russo-Ukrainian War has something to do with it. What would have been a nonstop flight between Europe and east Asia through the war zone becomes a stopover or changeover in Dubai.
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There must be multiple parallel runways to handle such large loads of traffic. I know O’Hare and LA both run 2-3 parallel runways. I recollect way back in early 2000’s having to get a “reservatioin arrival time slot” at La Guardia the night before we went there. The slots were 10 minutes apart, and you were expected to arrive on time. The airport might then screw with you, putting you in a pattern, or, in our case, taking us offshore in a big loop. It was notable that a 747 was below us - by maybe 500’ - out over the Sound, wallowing along at about 140 kts. You paid for parking in 8 hour slots, which made us the big spenders, since we spent the night there and left in the morning. We got asked if we needed newspapers and coffee or juice for our “passengers”. We looked at each other, laughed, and politely declined.
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Atlanta has five parallel runways, fwiw. The newest is shorter than the others, accommodating just commuter airline traffic, but allowed Atlanta to make a step change in volume over O’Hare, its closest competitor back then.
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YUP. If you’re going to do volume, you need multiple runways that can be used simultaneously. It takes a specific amount of time to land a jet, and you can’t realistically shorten that by much. So if you need more volume, you end up needing more runways. THAT can be a bit of a pain, seeing as there are only so many ways to align runways at a given airport.(prevailing winds and all that stuff).
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