Video - How many commercial airports are there in the world ?

According to the Airports Council International (ACI) World Airport Traffic Report, there are currently 17,678 commercial airports in the world, in other words those which receive airliners, cargo and business aircraft. If we count all airports, aerodromes and airfields, both civilian and military throughout the world, the figure rises to 41,788. The United States have the highest density of airports in the world.

Generally, the world’s civil airports are identified with three letters assigned by the International Air Transport Association (IATA code). For example: Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG), Los Angeles (LAX), London Heathrow (LHR), Montreal Pierre Elliott Trudeau (YUL), and Sydney (SYD). Another airport coding system does exists, but much less used by airlines, is that of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which comprises four letters. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it, why not use one single codification ?

As every week, we went to put the question to a number of passengers in an airport.