CLT Named Most Efficient North American Airport

Charlotte Douglas International Airport is the most efficient North American airport with over 30 million passengers according to the Air Transport Regional Society (ATRS), a top academic research group in the air transportation sector.

The results are based on 2021 financial year data and obtained following year-long research by the ATRS Global Airport Performance Benchmarking Task Force, a 16-member team of leading academics from Asia Pacific, Europe and North America.

“It is always a tremendous honor to be recognized among your peers and certainly for such a prestigious award,” Charlotte Douglas International Airport Chief Executive Officer Haley Gentry said. “We have always focused on the value and cost of what we do. It is gratifying to see your organization recognized for achievements and hard work, especially when it includes operational and management efficiency, cost competitiveness and financial performances.”

The award, announced July 2 in Kobe, Japan, measures and compares the performance of several important aspects of operations: productivity and efficiency, unit costs and cost competitiveness, financial results and charges for 205 airports and 24 airport groups of various sizes and ownership forms in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America.

CLT ranks the seventh busiest airport worldwide for arrivals and departures and 10th in North America for passengers according to the Airports Council International (ACI) 2022 preliminary rankings. Globally, CLT’s passenger traffic ranks 19th. The final rankings will be made public later this summer or early fall.

Charlotte Douglas handled 505,589 arrivals and departures in 2022 and served nearly 48 million passengers, which is a 10% jump from 43 million passengers in 2021 and only 5% below the record-breaking 50.2 million passengers in 2019.