Which airport has the most runaways?

O'Hare International Airport This airport secures the top position with eight runways. It also has two sets of three runways, which are set parallel to one another and allow multiple parallel landings.



Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD) currently holds the record for the most runways of any civilian airport in the world, with a total of eight active runways. Most of these are configured in a "parallel" layout, which was part of a multi-billion dollar "O'Hare Modernization Program" to reduce delays and allow for simultaneous landings and takeoffs even in the city's famous "Windy City" weather. For many years, the record was a toss-up between O'Hare and Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), which has seven runways. While some massive airports like Denver (DEN) cover more physical land area, O'Hare's dense configuration of eight runways allows it to handle an incredible volume of traffic—sometimes over 2,500 flights per day. This makes it a critical hub for global aviation, though having so many intersecting or parallel paths requires some of the most complex and skilled air traffic control operations on the planet.

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Dallas Fort Worth International Airport Located between two major cities, the airport began operation in 1974, and features seven runways to service planes of varying sizes. This airport can also accommodate triple parallel landings.

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1. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (45.4 million) Located 10 miles from downtown Atlanta, Georgia's Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) is a massive domestic and international hub for air travel—especially for those traveling with Delta Air Lines and its partners.

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As Atlas Obscura explains, the numbers that runways have aren't arbitrary. A runway always has a number between 1 and 36, and that number isn't just the runway's nickname, but also indicates how many degrees away that runway is from magnetic north, rounded to the tens.

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Denver International Airport Situated in Denver, Colorado, USA, Denver International Airport covers an area of 135.69 square kilometres, making it the second-largest airport in the world.

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Runway numbers are determined by rounding the compass bearing of one runway end to the nearest 10 degrees and truncating the last digit, meaning runways are numbered from 1 to 36—as per the diagram below. The opposite end of the runway always differs by 180 degrees, so it's numbered 18 higher or lower.

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