Dreams of Flight

Unlike the last few design exercises, this isn't based on a book. It is just a way of visualizing the 20 most heavily travelled airports in the world, according to passenger volume.

There are some interesting trends visible. With the exception of Dubai (OMDB), all of the airports are in the U.S., Western Europe, or Eastern Asia.

• The U.S. has the most airports on the list (nine).
• China has two (three if you count Hong Kong).
• Most of the airports are old – Hong Kong International Airport (VHHH), Suvarnnabhumi Airport (VBTS) and Guangzhou Baiyun (ZGGG) are the only airports under twenty years old. VHHH replaced an older airport (Hong Kong Kai Tak International Airport), leaving only two genuinely new airports on the list.
• This may reflect both the entrenchment of air travel in the developed world, and the increasing wealth and travel coming out of Asia.
• No airports in Central America, South America, Africa, or Australia are on the list.

Sources:
Travel Statistics: http://en.wikipedia.org Airport Information: http://en.wikipedia.org (Various Pages

Full size download available (2550x1650 uncompressed .png)

Note:
Some time has passed since I grabbed an incomplete listing of 2008 passenger totals from Wikipedia. Final numbers for 2008 have since been updated. This graphic has not been updated. Generally speaking, some airports have changed position, and passenger totals are significantly higher across the board. An updated graphic will come eventually