Worldwide airport passenger numbers increased by 6.4% last year to reach almost 7.2 billion, according to a report by the Montreal-headquartered Airports Council International.
However, this growth could be hindered by the risk of militant attacks, geopolitical unrest and other issues such as long queues for security checks.
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ACI world director general Angela Gittens said: "It is important to maintain cautious optimism as we navigate through 2016.
"There are several impediments that could curtail the continued rise in demand, which could potentially encumber growth prospects over the short and medium terms."
In the busiest airports list for 2015, Atlanta-Hartsfield-Jackson (ATL) continued to feature at the top, growing at 5.5% year-over-year in passenger traffic and handling more than 100 million passengers in 2015.
Passenger traffic in airports of emerging markets and developing economies grew faster by 8.1% than in advanced economies (5.2%) in 2015.
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By GlobalDataEmerging markets had a 44% share in global passenger traffic.
In 2015, the highest number of passengers went through airports in the Asia-Pacific region (2.46 billion, up 8.6% over 2014), followed by Europe, North America, Latin America-Caribbean, Middle East and Africa.
London was the world’s largest airport system, with more than 155 million passengers handled at six airports.
Featuring at the top of the world’s busiest international airports list was Dubai, followed by London and Hong Kong.
Worldwide airport cargo grew by 2.6% in 2015 to 106 million metric tonnes, with mixed levels of growth seen across all six regions.
Airports in the Asia-Pacific region handled the largest amount of air cargo last year.
