Overview
- The ranking, compiled by World Atlas and circulated this week by Condé Nast Traveler and other outlets, measures the land area owned and managed by airport authorities.
- The top 10 by footprint are King Fahd (Saudi Arabia), Denver (US), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Istanbul (Türkiye), Dallas/Fort Worth (US), Washington Dulles (US), Beijing Daxing (China), Orlando (US), George Bush Intercontinental–Houston (US) and Shanghai Pudong (China).
- King Fahd International Airport near Dammam is the outlier at about 300 square miles (roughly 776 km²), with vast desert land reserved for long-term expansion.
- Denver International Airport is the largest in North America at about 53 square miles (around 138 km²), a scale that supports long runways, large aircraft operations and room to grow.
- Coverage underscores that a larger footprint does not equate to higher traffic and highlights design identities and planning choices, from Dulles’s signature terminal to Beijing Daxing’s starfish-shaped layout.