LAX slips to 7th position in 2009, down from 6th in 2008, 5th in 2007 and 3rd in 2001. Its 2009 passenger count of 56.5 million was down 5.5 percent from a year earlier. L.A. has yet to recover from the post-9/11 slump, but as you can see from the chart, most ever airport (except for Beijing, Dubai and Bangkok) was down. Numbers are from Airports Council International.

TOTAL PASSENGER TRAFFIC 2009
1 ATLANTA -2.3%
2 LONDON, -1.5%
3 BEIJING +16.8%
4 CHICAGO -8.8%
5 TOKYO -7.2%
6 PARIS -4.9%
7 LOS ANGELES -5.5%
8 DALLAS/FORT WORTH -1.9%
9 FRANKFURT -4.7%
10 DENVER -2.1%
11 MADRID -5.1%
12 NEW YORK (JFK) -3.9%
13 HONG KONG -4.8%
14 AMSTERDAM -8.1%
15 DUBAI +9.2%
16 BANGKOK +4.9
17 LAS VEGAS -8.2%
18 HOUSTON -4.1%
19 PHOENIX -5.2%
20 SAN FRANCISCO +0.2%