Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport retained the top global position with 106.3 million passengers in 2025, yet Tokyo Haneda’s 6.7% growth to 91.7 million passengers marks the decisive structural shift in aviation traffic [8][24]. Haneda moved to third place globally, closing the gap on Dubai International while signaling Asia-Pacific hubs’ accelerated recovery and capacity expansion [8]. The region now drives multiple top-10 entries, with Shanghai Pudong and Guangzhou Baiyun adding domestic scale that challenges legacy US and European dominance [8][12]. Operators across Japan, China, and India are leveraging large domestic markets to sustain seat growth, altering the historical concentration of traffic in North America and Europe [22]. This realignment reflects post-pandemic travel patterns where regional economic momentum directly fuels airport throughput, forcing Western operators to recalibrate hub strategies.