Key points
- East Asia has 14 of the world's 50 busiest airports in 2024: 11 in China, 1 in Japan, 1 in South Korea and 1 in Hong Kong.
- Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of China, not a country. It is listed separately here because the source table lists it separately.
- Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection stepped up temperature screening at flight gates for arrivals from Russia on 12 October 2026.
- For the other 13 airports, no airport-specific health item was found in research. That is absence of evidence, not evidence of absence.
- For passenger figures, see the directory — the only page on this site that carries them. This page lists ranks, airports and cities only.
Direct answer: East Asia has 14 of the world's 50 busiest airports in 2024 — 11 in China, 1 in Japan, 1 in South Korea and 1 in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of China, not a country, and it is listed separately here only because the source table lists it separately. The one dated airport-specific item found in this region is Hong Kong's stepped-up temperature screening at flight gates for arrivals from Russia on 12 October 2026. For the other 13 airports, no airport-specific health item was found in research — absence of evidence, not evidence of absence. No airport on this page is given a health rating, because no public per-airport rating exists.
The 14 airports
Passenger figures are not repeated here — the directory is the only page on this site that carries them. Ranks are from the 2024 ranking (ACI World Airport Traffic Dataset, 2025 Edition); ranks 21–50 are DRAFT, as the directory explains. Tokyo Haneda’s exact 2024 figure is unresolved, as the directory explains; its rank, fourth, is not in doubt.
| Rank | Airport | City / location | Country or territory | IATA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Tokyo Haneda Airport | Tokyo | Japan | HND |
| 10 | Shanghai Pudong International Airport | Shanghai | China | PVG |
| 12 | Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport | Guangzhou, Guangdong | China | CAN |
| 13 | Seoul Incheon International Airport | Incheon | South Korea | ICN |
| 16 | Beijing Capital International Airport | Beijing | China | PEK |
| 22 | Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport | Shenzhen, Guangdong | China | SZX |
| 29 | Chengdu Tianfu International Airport | Chengdu, Sichuan | China | TFU |
| 32 | Hong Kong International Airport | Chek Lap Kok | Hong Kong | HKG |
| 38 | Beijing Daxing International Airport | Beijing | China | PKX |
| 42 | Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport | Chongqing | China | CKG |
| 44 | Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport | Hangzhou, Zhejiang | China | HGH |
| 45 | Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport | Shanghai | China | SHA |
| 46 | Kunming Changshui International Airport | Kunming, Yunnan | China | KMG |
| 47 | Xi'an Xianyang International Airport | Xi'an, Shaanxi | China | XIY |
China: the largest group, and the thinnest findings
China has 11 of the 50 busiest airports — more than any country except the United States — and Shanghai Pudong’s rise is the sharpest move in the 2024 ranking: it climbed 11 places into the global top 10, while Guangzhou Baiyun held 12th position after ranking 57th just two years earlier (ACI World blog, July 2025). For all 11 Chinese airports, no airport-specific health item was found in the research behind this area. That is stated plainly, and it is not a finding about the airports: no airport-operator health page was opened for all 50 airports, and the country-level route is the one this page recommends — the CDC destination page and the IATA Travel Centre for China, and the destination country’s own health authority. The framework that applies is the same everywhere in this area: China is a State Party to the International Health Regulations, and its designated airports must hold the Annex 1 core capacities described in the IHR guide on this site.
Japan and South Korea: the same position
For Tokyo Haneda (rank 4) and Seoul Incheon (rank 13), no airport-specific health item was found in the research behind this area. The same rule applies: the absence of a found item is absence of evidence, not evidence of absence, and neither airport is described as having “no measures”. Haneda’s ranking is worth one note: its exact 2024 passenger figure is unresolved — published values differ by 450 passengers, and a third published value appears in the Japan list based on MLIT reports — but the rank itself is not in doubt, and the directory gives only “about 85.9 million” for Haneda until the ACI dataset value or the operator’s published figure settles it. For travel-health checks, the route is the CDC destination page for Japan or South Korea and the IATA Travel Centre, plus the country’s own health authority.
Hong Kong: the one dated item in this region
Hong Kong International Airport (rank 32) is the one airport in this region with a dated airport-specific item found in research. On 12 October 2026 the Centre for Health Protection stepped up temperature screening at flight gates for arrivals from Russia and Irkutsk Oblast, on WHO-shared information, with no ongoing transmission indicated. That is a dated snapshot of an event-driven measure: it may have lapsed, and it must be re-checked at the Centre for Health Protection before travel, not taken from this page as current. Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of China, not a sovereign state. The 50 airports sit in 24 listed countries and territories; grouped by sovereignty, that is 23 sovereign states plus Hong Kong SAR. This page lists Hong Kong separately because the source table lists it separately, and it does not count it as a country.
Frequently asked questions
Which East Asian airports are in the top 50?
14 in 2024: Shanghai Pudong, Guangzhou, Beijing Capital, Shenzhen, Chengdu Tianfu, Beijing Daxing, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Shanghai Hongqiao, Kunming and Xi'an in China, Tokyo Haneda in Japan, Seoul Incheon in South Korea, and Hong Kong International Airport.
Is Hong Kong counted as a country here?
No. Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of China. The 50 airports sit in 24 listed countries and territories — 23 sovereign states plus Hong Kong SAR if grouped.
Why is there no health rating for these airports?
No public per-airport health or IHR compliance rating exists. WHO does not publish a per-airport scorecard, and CAPSCA assistance-visit reports are confidential to the State.