“Beijing will become busiest airport in 2014”

Beijing Capital International Airport will be the world's busiest passenger airport, ending the 13-year reign of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The Chinese capital will take first place as soon as in 2014, a report from the Global Business Travel Association predicts.

In 2012, Atlanta serviced 92 million passengers and Beijing 82 million. “Beijing International will surpass Atlanta in 2014," Joe Bates, the association's vice president of research, told China Daily in an interview. China is said to be growing its business travel market faster than any other nation, and continues to close the gap on the US as the largest business travel economy in the world.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International has been the world's busiest airport in terms of passenger volume since 2000. Last year it had a 3.4 percent increase in number of passengers over 2011, according to Airports Council International, the worldwide association of airports. Beijing Capital International Airport, Asia's busiest airport since 2009, came in second with a 4.1 percent increase, according to the traffic report.