Beijing airport takes third place among world's busiest hubs

Beijing now has the world's third-busiest airport, surging past Chicago, Tokyo and Paris as the mainland shrugged off the global economic slowdown.

Beijing Capital International Airport's ranking puts it behind Atlanta and London's Heathrow in terms of domestic and international passenger numbers in 2009, according to a report by Airports Council International, a Geneva-based international airport association.

Passenger traffic rose 16.9 per cent year on year to 65.37 million last year at Beijing airport, which jumped five places to knock Chicago from the third place.

The facility may also oust Heathrow from the No2 spot later this year, reflecting the impact of industrial action by British Airways staff and a volcanic eruption in Iceland on air traffic to and from London.

In the first six months of this year, Beijing handled 35.05 million passengers, up from 30.1 million in the same period last year, while Heathrow's passenger volume shrank 3.5 per cent year on year to 30.1 million.

Hong Kong International Airport, which benefits from flights to and from the mainland but lacks any domestic traffic, overtook Amsterdam to be the third-busiest airport in terms of international passenger traffic. Heathrow and Paris are in first and second place respectively.

Last year, Hong Kong handled 44.98 million international passengers, down 4.6 per cent from a year earlier.