Why is Atlanta's airport the busiest in the world?

Atlanta's population isn't that big.
I would think that New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles would be the busiest...

Atlanta is the busiest because more planes fly in and out of there than anywhere else.

Seriously though, Atlanta is a HUB for Delta and that is why it is so busy.

Location, Location, Location. It's about half ways to anywhere & everywhere.

You're correct, O'Hare airport is the busiest.

Atlanta is not always the busiest airport, as this distinction changes with the flight schedules of the world's airlines. However, Atlanta is one of the busiest airports primarily because it serves as a "hub" ,or home, for one or more airlines. A "hub" is an airport where most of an airline's flights either depart or arrive. As a passenger, it is where one usually changes planes to make a connection. Because Atlanta serves as a "hub", as well as the corporate headquarters for Delta as well as Air Tran, it is very busy handling the associated system wide air traffic for those (as well as other) airlines.

This is news to me. Chicago's O'Hare Airport was the busiest for years. Now Atlanta took over, oh, well I guess Chicago has lost ground to Atlanta, a business hub and home to many huge corporations.

Delta and Air Tran use Atlanta Hartsfield Airport as a "hub" - they base their pilots and flight attendants out of that airport, and they fix their planes there.

So, they have all their flights from around the country stop in Atlanta. For instance, if your flying from New York City to Phoenis on Delta, they will have you take a flight to Atlanta, and then change planes for a flight to Phoenix.

Basically the airlines do that because it's easier and cheaper for them to have all of their planes come out of the same airport than it is for them to have planes fly directly between every destination they serve.

It's extremely busy because once you're here, you want to get the hell out!

There is an old saying in the South that even on the way to hell you have to change planes in Atlanta. That would make it a damn busy airport.

BTW, Hartsfield is busiest in terms of the number of pasengers, O'Hare is busiest based on number of flights.

It's a hub for Delta and maybe American !!