New Delhi airport now the fastest growing among 20 busiest airports

World passenger air traffic saw a 4.9 per cent increase in 2017, vis-a-vis the year before that, with the biggest upset being that New Delhi replaced New York as the 16th busiest airport in the world, with 63.45 million passengers passing through its terminals.Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport  also saw the biggest jump in passenger air traffic among the 20 busiest airports - with a 14.1 per cent increase in passengers handled and in the process jumping six places up, from being the 22nd busiest airport in 2016.The increase in passenger traffic is largely due to the increase in domestic air travellers, who constituted more than 55 per cent of the passengers.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport maintained its numero uno status, as the world's busiest airport, with more than 103.90 million passengers passing through it. However, its passenger traffic saw a dip last year, compared to 2016 when it had catered to more than 104.17 million passengers.

Bejing's Capital International Airport also maintained its ranking, at second place, with nearly 95.79 million passengers passing through - an increase of 1.5 per cent over the 94.39 million passengers it played host to in 2016.

West Asia's biggest shopping centre, the Dubai International Airport has cemented its position as the world's go-to duty-free shopping mall, along with being a transit point for flights to the western hemisphere.With more than 88.24 million passengers in 2017, Dubai saw a 5.5 per cent increase in passenger traffic in 2017.

London's Heathrow Airport was abuzz with more than 78 million passengers in 2017 - an improvement of 2.4 per cent over the 75.71 million passengers that boarded or alighted from flights there in 2016. That number of passengers also helped it maintain its ranking at seven for the second consecutive year.