airport

Landing strip with a facility for the loading and unloading of passengers and freight from aircraft. Commercial airports normally have a purpose-built terminal building, concrete or tarmac runways, and instrumentation such as radar for guiding and locating planes.

A stolport is a specialized type of airport.

Factors important in the location of airports are: (1) easy access via motorway and rail links; (2) nearness to urban areas for local demand; (3) flat land; and (4) suitable weather; for example, a large number of days free of fog and snow.

The Atlanta airport became the busiest one in the world in 1998 by handling 73.5 million passengers. The title of ‘World's Busiest Airport’ was made official by the Airports Council International (ACI), based in Geneva, Switzerland. Atlanta's William B Hartsfield International Airport passed Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, which had 72.4 million passengers in 1998. O'Hare had been the busiest since 1961 and still leads in take-offs and landings. The next three busiest airports were Los Angeles International Airport with 61.2 million passengers, London's Heathrow Airport with 60.7 million, and the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport with 60.5 million.