Crowded Skies

The Ten Busiest Airspaces In The U.S.

  • By Matthew Van Dusen
  • 11 Comments

For a few years now, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International has been the busiest airport in the world in several categories, serving about 90 million passengers and 950,000 aircraft last year. But that doesn’t mean the air above Atlanta is the busiest in the U.S. That distinction goes to Southern California’s skies, which are dotted with aircraft bound for 62 separate airports.

The most crowded skies in the U.S. are around population centers but not necessarily at the biggest airports — Atlanta ranks fifth on the list. Megacities like New York, no. 2 on the list, are served by many airports. So, to take a more accurate census of the sky, we looked past the airports, to the airspace controlled by the FAA’s Terminal Radar Approach Controls. The so-called TRACONs are air traffic control facilities that guide aircraft approaching or leaving large cities — they’re an intermediate step between an airport’s tower and the wild blue yonder. The FAA records (pdf) every time an aircraft passes through these spaces. It’s not a perfect measure, but it’s a good broad indicator of traffic.

These stretches of sky stand to benefit most from FAA’s Next Generation project, which will replace 1950s radar technology with satellite-based navigation and could move higher volumes of planes much more efficiently.

See the busiest airspaces:

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Comments

  1. Scott

    The methodology here is a bit flawed–TRACONs handle aircraft enroute to or departing from airports in their specific region, but they do not include aircraft passing over a region “at cruising altitude”.

    A better analysis would include data from the FAA’s ARTCCs, Air Route Traffic Control Centers, known as “Centers”, which handles aircraft “in the wild blue yonder” at altitudes above the TRACONs.

    Reply

    • txchnologist

      Scott,
      That’s a good point and anyone interested can click on the link in the story to go to the FAA Administrators Fact Book, which has the ARTCC numbers.
      Still, we chose the TRACON because these are presumably aircraft that are bound for the population centers rather than just passing overhead on their way to somewhere else.
      We also followed the recommendations of pilots on forums that had extensive discussions about these questions.
      Besides, if you look at the ARTCC numbers, SoCal, which is generally agreed to be the most crowded airspace in the world, ranks number 10. That’s didn’t strike us as correct.
      Txch

      Reply

      • Ray Lauffer

        “Besides, if you look at the ARTCC numbers, SoCal, which is generally agreed to be the most crowded airspace in the world, ranks number 10. That’s didn’t strike us as correct.
        Txch”

        I think the problem is semantics. When you say busiest or most crowded airspace and you use the traffic numbers from the FAA you need to remember that the volume of airspace for each of these Tracon’s or ARTCC’s is different. It’s like saying a room that is 20 ft by 20 ft with 100 people in it is crowded and busy but a room that is 100 ft by 100 ft with the same 100 people is not that crowded or busy. LA Center’s airspace is about the same size as Atlanta Center’s but half of LA’s is ocean or desert of southern Nevada and NW Arizona. Denver Center’s airspace is twice as big as LA’s. Airspace for the Tracons are all different sizes too. I don’t have access to TCA charts here at work to look and compare the airspace at SoCal with Denver or Atlanta or NoCal but their like dogs. They come in all different sizes and shapes.

        Reply

      • Scott

        I agree with Ray — it is a semantic issue. But, words are important, and the headline for this post states “Busiest Airspaces”, which without further clarification, implies all of the airspace.

        You’re absolutely correct that TRACON numbers represent… “presumably aircraft that are bound for the population centers rather than just passing overhead on their way to somewhere else.” But, that’s a red herring since your headline and lead makes no mention of (or why) you’d exclude the “passing overhead” traffic from your rankings.

        I’m a bit baffled by the comment: “Besides, if you look at the ARTCC numbers, SoCal, which is generally agreed to be the most crowded airspace in the world, ranks number 10. That’s didn’t strike us as correct.” — If that’s what the data shows, then I’d say it is indeed correct (or, the data source is flawed, in which case the TRACON data is probably unreliable, too). Plus, I’m not sure you’re necessarily correct about the “general agreement” regarding SoCal — not too long ago, it was common knowledge in the pilot world that Cleveland Center was the world’s busiest airspace (given its position along routes between many of the world’s major cities).

        Bottom line: aircraft passing overhead (rather than arriving/departing a specific region) is a major component of air traffic. Your post does not make any distinction that you mean only traffic coming to/from a region, nor does it present any argument for why such an analysis is particularly relevant (versus looking at all air traffic).

        Reply

  2. Jerry Holder

    You would have to utilize several ways to get an accurate picture of the traffic. Each has it own merits. I suggest they use 3 areas within the system. These 3 would give the most accurate.

    1. TRACON
    2. Enroute Centers
    3. Flight Service Stations

    This would count VFR A/C that file and do not file flight plans.

    Congestion around airports is a major factor in running safe and efficient air traffic. I contend that poor arrival & departure procedures contribute to congestion more so than just raw numbers and unlike a/c i.e. Cessna 172 in front of a B737 tends to slow things up not go mention it makes it more complicated for the tower controller in sequencing.

    Reply

  3. Jerry Holder

    One other thought. What goes up must come down. Tower controllers at one time counted all take off & and landings. So if it’s enroute it departed some where and the operation was counted and gravity assures us it will land somewhere and it will be counted. This would be the most accurate.

    An exception to the above would be flights that depart from uncontrolled fields without a flight plan and fly VFR below 3000′ without going through a control zone. In other words not many.

    Reply

  4. Dennis Jenders

    I think you could include Oshkosh, WI here for the short time period in late July / early August they are the busiest air space.

    Reply

  5. Chris Thrasher

    I think honestly, the busiest airspace in the world is at the run up area of 16R at KVNY when the temp is 95+F. For some unexplained reason, when the temp reaches these levels, it seems like the line to runup and then hold short for 16R departures is slightly less long than a new ride at disneyland.

    This only applies when the temps are 95+ . If they are a nice balmy 72, there is never a plane to wait behind. lol

    Seriously though, “Busiest airpsace” is relative. Centers, TRACON, Towers and all others all play a part but there are lots of planes operating below Class C airspaces that are not being taken into account I think.

    Reply

  6. Mike Summers

    So Cal….Please! Just look at the map above!

    Reply

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