<DIV>Equally loved and loathed by the public and the media, airports are crucial to the operation of passenger and airfreight services worldwide. The World's Top 500 Airports is the leading guide on the subject. It contains a brief history of each airport, details of runways and terminals, annual passenger numbers and aircraft movements. For the 'Top 250' airports there is a map, details of the main user airlines, and details of whether traffic is scheduled, chartered, passenger or freight. Freight traffic figures and ranking for freight are also given. Data and world rankings are supplied by the US-based Airports Council International.</DIV>