Key points
- North America has 17 of the world's 50 busiest airports in 2024: 15 in the United States, 1 in Canada and 1 in Mexico.
- The one current US entry measure named here is verified live: from 3 November 2026, all boarding a flight to the US must attest they were not in the DRC in the previous 21 days.
- No airport-specific health item was found in research for the Canadian or Mexican airport on this page. 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.
- No per-airport health or IHR compliance rating exists for any airport on this page. None is given.
Direct answer: North America has 17 of the world's 50 busiest airports in 2024 — 15 in the United States, 1 in Canada and 1 in Mexico. The framework that applies at all of them is the same: the International Health Regulations, which require designated airports to hold core capacities, and the CAPSCA arrangement between aviation and public health. The one current entry measure named on this page was verified live on 7 November 2026: from 3 November 2026, everyone boarding an international flight to the United States must attest they were not present in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the previous 21 days. No airport on this page is given a health rating, because no public per-airport rating exists.
The 17 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.
| Rank | Airport | City / location | Country | IATA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport | Atlanta, Georgia | United States | ATL |
| 3 | Dallas Fort Worth International Airport | Dallas–Fort Worth, Texas | United States | DFW |
| 6 | Denver International Airport | Denver, Colorado | United States | DEN |
| 8 | O'Hare International Airport | Chicago, Illinois | United States | ORD |
| 11 | Los Angeles International Airport | Los Angeles, California | United States | LAX |
| 19 | John F. Kennedy International Airport | New York, New York | United States | JFK |
| 23 | Charlotte Douglas International Airport | Charlotte, North Carolina | United States | CLT |
| 24 | Harry Reid International Airport | Las Vegas, Nevada | United States | LAS |
| 25 | Orlando International Airport | Orlando, Florida | United States | MCO |
| 27 | Miami International Airport | Miami, Florida | United States | MIA |
| 34 | Seattle–Tacoma International Airport | SeaTac, Washington | United States | SEA |
| 35 | Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport | Phoenix, Arizona | United States | PHX |
| 36 | San Francisco International Airport | San Francisco, California | United States | SFO |
| 41 | Newark Liberty International Airport | Newark, New Jersey | United States | EWR |
| 43 | George Bush Intercontinental Airport | Houston, Texas | United States | IAH |
| 48 | Toronto Pearson International Airport | Mississauga, Ontario | Canada | YYZ |
| 50 | Mexico City International Airport | Mexico City | Mexico | MEX |
The United States: the current entry measure
The United States is the country with the most airports in the top 50 — 15 of them — and the only country-level entry measure named in this area was verified live against the CDC Travelers’ Health hub on 7 November 2026. After 3 November 2026, at 11:59 pm Eastern Standard Time, all people boarding an international flight to the United States must attest — sign a statement — that they have not been present in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the 21 days before boarding. The CDC notes that the overall risk to the American public and travellers remains low, and points to the CDC order on attestation for arriving passengers. This is a dated snapshot of an outbreak measure: it may lapse or change, and it must be re-checked at the CDC hub before travel, not taken from this page as current. CDC Ebola health-alert signage was also observed at US arrivals in September 2026, and the CDC Travel Health Notices as of 7 November 2026 include a Level 4 notice for Ebola Bundibugyo virus disease in Ituri and Nord-Kivu provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and a Level 1 notice for the same disease in Kenya. For the current notices, check the CDC hub.
Canada and Mexico: what was found, and what was not
For Toronto Pearson (YYZ) and Mexico City (MEX), no airport-specific health item was found in the research behind this area. The country-level route exists for both — the CDC destination page and the IATA Travel Centre for the country, plus the Government of Canada’s travel health pages for Canada — and that is the route this page recommends: check the destination country’s rules, not a static airport page. The absence of a found item is stated plainly because it is not a finding: no airport-operator health page was opened for all 50 airports, and the absence of a found item must never be presented as “no measures at this airport”. The same applies to the 15 US airports individually: the DRC attestation is a US-entry rule, not an airport measure, and no per-airport measure is claimed for any of them.
How the framework applies here
All 17 airports sit under the same framework described in the IHR guide on this site: the United States, Canada and Mexico are all States Parties to the International Health Regulations, and their designated airports must hold the Annex 1 core capacities — medical services, safe food and water, vector control, and a public-health emergency contingency plan. What a traveller meets in practice is the country’s measures at that point of entry: health declarations where required, screening where an outbreak is under surveillance, and the entry-health rules of the destination country. The before-you-fly guide explains the checks; the at-the-airport guide explains screening and reporting illness in transit; the after-you-land guide explains what to watch in the weeks after travel. For current outbreaks affecting this region, see the Outbreak Snapshots Directory on this site.
Frequently asked questions
Which North American airports are in the top 50?
17 in 2024: Atlanta, Dallas Fort Worth, Denver, Chicago O'Hare, Los Angeles, New York JFK, Charlotte, Las Vegas, Orlando, Miami, Seattle–Tacoma, Phoenix, San Francisco, Newark and Houston in the United States, Toronto Pearson in Canada, and Mexico City in Mexico.
What is the current US entry rule about the Democratic Republic of the Congo?
From 3 November 2026 at 11:59 pm Eastern Standard Time, everyone boarding an international flight to the United States must attest they were not present in the DRC in the previous 21 days. Check the CDC Travelers' Health hub for the current position.
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.