Largest airlines in the world

The largest airlines in the world can be measured in several ways. As of 2024 ^[update] , United Airlines was the largest in terms of available seat miles (ASM), ^[1] revenue seat miles (RPM), ^[2] mainline fleet size, ^[3] and number of destinations served; ^[4] Delta Air Lines was the most valuable by revenue, assets, market capitalization, and brand value; American Airlines Group carries the most passengers and has the most employees; FedEx Express carries the most freight in tonne-kilometers; Southwest Airlines has the greatest number of routes; and Turkish Airlines serves the most countries. ^[5]

According to Forbes in 2023, Delta Air Lines had the highest revenue among public airlines, followed by American Airlines Group and United Airlines Holdings. Emirates and Qatar Airways, being state-owned and privately held respectively, are not included in this list. Brand Finance, in 2024, ranks Delta Air Lines as the most valuable airline brand, followed by American Airlines and United Airlines. Emirates and Qatar Airways also feature prominently in terms of brand value.

American Airlines Group carried the most passengers in 2021, followed by Delta Air Lines and Ryanair. United Airlines, Lufthansa, and Southwest Airlines also rank highly in passenger numbers, highlighting the dominance of US and European carriers in flight volume.

By financial performance

Delta Air Lines ranks first by revenue, total assets, market capitalization and brand value.

American Airlines Group ranks first by number of employees and passengers carried.

Revenue

Forbes' world's biggest public airline companies by revenue (as of May 2024) ^[6]

Rank	Airline	Country	Revenue	Profit	Assets	Market cap.	Employees
			(US$ billions)
1	Delta Air Lines	United States	59	5	75	34	100,000
2	United Airlines Holdings	United States	54.8	2.7	71.9	18.1	103,300
3	American Airlines Group	United States	53.2	0.5	64.4	9.7	132,100
4	Lufthansa Group	Germany	38.8	1.5	51.1	8.7	96,677
5	Air France–KLM	France/  Netherlands	32.9	0.69	37.5	3	75,000
6	International Airlines Group	Spain/  United Kingdom	31.8	2.9	41.6	11.1	71,794
7	Southwest Airlines	United States	26.7	0.43	36	16.7	74,806
8	China Southern Airlines	China	22.5	–0.59	43.7	7.3	99,468
9	Turkish Airlines	Turkey	21.2	6.8	35.6	13.8	55,884
10	Air Canada	Canada	16.4	1.6	22	4.8	35,675
11	China Eastern Airlines	China	16	–1.2	40.1	5.5	81,781

Note that Emirates is a state-owned company, and is thus not included in this list of public companies. Its revenue was estimated to be around US$37.4 billion in 2024, which would have had placed the company into 5th place. Previous estimations of over US$29.2 billion and 6th place in 2023, over US$18 billion and 5th place in 2021. Qatar Airways Group is similarly privately held with its 2024 revenue of around 22.2 billion USD placing it into 10th place (with Emirates included) above Turkish Airlines. Previously nearly 21 billion USD and 9th place in 2023.

Brand value

Largest airlines by brand value (US$ billions) according to Brand Finance (2024) ^[7]

Rank	Airline	Country	$bn	Year-to-year change
1	Delta Air Lines	United States	10.771	+20.7%
2	American Airlines	United States	10.242	+20.7%
3	United Airlines	United States	8.676	+11.5%
4	Emirates	United Arab Emirates	6.610	+29.5%
5	Southwest Airlines	United States	5.394	+14.7%
6	British Airways	United Kingdom	3.175	+45.2%
7	Qatar Airways	Qatar	3.138	+27.0%
8	Air Canada	Canada	2.805	+8.6%
9	China Southern Airlines	China	2.767	−14.3%
10	Ryanair	Ireland	2.541	+7.1%

By flight volume

Passengers carried

Millions of passengers carried

Rank	Airline group	Country	2022	2020	2019	2018	2017	2016	2015	2014	2013	2012
1	American Airlines Group	United States	199	95.3	215	203	199	198	146	87.8	86.8	86.3
2	Delta Air Lines	United States	175	80.0	204	192	186	183	138	129	120	116
3	Ryanair	Ireland	168	52.4	148	142	130	119	101	86.3	81.3	79.6
4	Southwest Airlines	United States	157	67.8	162	163	157	151	144	129	115	112
5	United Airlines Holdings	United States	144	57.8	162	158	148	143	95.3	90.4	90.1	92.6
6	Lufthansa Group	Germany	101	36.4	145	142	130	117	115	112	110	108
7	IAG	UK &   Spain	94.7	31.3 #12	118	112	104	100	94.9	77.3	67.2	54.6
8	Air France–KLM	France &   Netherlands	83.3	28.9 #14		85.6 #12
9	IndiGo	India	75.3	35.0 #11		61.9 #16
10	Turkish Airlines	Turkey	71.8	28.0 #17=		75.2 #14
	China Southern Air Holding	China	62.6 #12	96.9	151	139	126	84.9	109	100	91.5	86.2
	China Eastern Air Holding	China	42.5 #17	74.5	130	121	110	80.9	75.1	66.1	62.6	79.6
	Air China Group	China	38.6 #24	68.7	115	109	101	96.5	89.8	83.0	77.7	72.4
	Alitalia	Italy	22.7 #24
Hainan Airlines Group	China	21.0 #39	37		79.9 #13
Sources			[8] [9]	[10]	[11]	[12]	[13]	[14]	[15]	[16]	[17]	[18]

Scheduled passenger-kilometers flown (billions)

American Airlines and United Express aircraft at Los Angeles International Airport

Airline holding groups

Rank	Airline group	Country	2022	2021	2020	2019	2017	2016	2015	2013
1	American Airlines Group	United States	347	259	147	388	364	~359	358	~206
2	United Airlines Holdings	United States	332	207	118	385	347	~328	335	~287
3	Delta Air Lines Group	United States	314	216	118	382	350	~342	337	~278
4	Air France–KLM	France/  Netherlands	237	116	81.2	275	248	~238	235	~228
5	Emirates	United Arab Emirates	225	93.7 #11	78.7	298	292	~270	255	~209
6	International Airlines Group	UK/  Spain	215	78.6 #15	72.2	285	252	~243	221	~186
7	Lufthansa Group	Germany	207	89.3 #13	69.4	296	261	~226	220	~153
8	Southwest Airlines	United States	199	166	87.2	211 #11	207	~200	189	~167
9	Turkish Airlines	Turkey	162	86.7 #14		153 #15
10	Qatar Airways	Qatar	154			172 #13
	Ryanair	Ireland	116 #11	121		185 (#12)			130 #12	~103 #15
	China Southern Air Holding	China	102 #13	152	153	284	230	~206	189	~148
	Aeroflot Group	Russia	98.4 #14	100	68.0 #11	156 #14			97.6 #20
	China Eastern Air Holding	China	61.2 #23	108	107	220	183	~167 #11	146 #11	~120 #11
	Air China Group	China	60.3 #24	104	109	233	201	~188	171	~142
Sources			[8]	[19] [20]	[10]	[21]	[13]	[22]	[23]	[24]

Individual airlines

Rank	Airline	Country	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017	2016	2015	2014	2013
1	American Airlines	United States	308	237	123	342	330	323	320	320	208	206
2	United Airlines	United States	305	178	100	342	329	310	299	294	287	286
3	Delta Air Lines	United States	292	195	106	350	330	316	308	302	290	277
4	Emirates	United Arab Emirates	225	93.7	78.7	299	302	288	270	251	230	209
5	Ryanair	Ireland	~207	120	64.9	185	170	157	142	125
6	Southwest Airlines	United States	199	166	87.2	211	214	207	200	189	162	145
7	Qatar Airways	Qatar	~168	91.5	57.1	172	152 #11		137 #11
8	Turkish Airlines	Turkey	162	86.7	52.2 #11	150 #14	145 #13		125 #14
9	Air France	France	123	60.1 #13	48.8 #12	150 #13	143 #14		136 #12	139	134	136
10	Lufthansa	Germany	119	50.0 #17	37.5 #16	165 #11	158	152	149	145	143	144
	British Airways	United Kingdom	104 #12	30.6 #30	38.8 #14	155 #12	151 #12		144	140	137	130
	China Southern Airlines	China	102 #13	109	110	213	200	177	205	189	166	147
	Qantas	Australia	63.8 #22	10.1 #77		86.1 #24	85.6 #23		120 #15			110
	China Eastern Airlines	China	61.2 #24	88.6	88.7	186	166	150	138
	Air China	China	60.3 #25	67.7 #11	71.4	169	161	146	135 #13		112
Sources			[9]	[19]	[25]		[26]	[27]	[28]	[29]	[30]	[31]

Scheduled freight tonne-kilometers (millions)

For broader coverage of this topic, see Cargo airline.

FedEx Express is the largest by freight tonne-kilometers.

Rank	Airline	Country	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017	2016	2015	2014
1	FedEx Express	United States	17,923	19,547	20,660	19,656	17,503	17,499	16,851	15,712	15,799	16,020
2	Qatar Airways Cargo	Qatar	14,406	14,267	16,102	13,740	13,024	12,695	10,999	9,221	7,660	5,997
3	UPS Airlines	United States	14,239	15,889	15,529	14,371	12,842	12,459	11,940	11,264	10,807	10,936
4	Emirates SkyCargo	United Arab Emirates	10,636	10,153	11,842	9,569	12,052	12,713	12,715	12,270	12,157	11,240
5	Atlas Air	United States	8,915	8,675	8,441	5,458 #12	4,522 #16	4,553 #16
6	Korean Air Cargo	South Korea	8,411	9,518	10,429	8,104	7,412	7,839	8,015	7,666	7,761	8,079
7	Turkish Cargo	Turkey	8,325	8,318	9,223	6,977	7,029	5,890 #12	4,728 #15	3,640 #20
8	Cathay Pacific Cargo	Hong Kong	8,099	5,774 #13	8,215	8,137	10,930	11,284	10,772	9,947	9,935	9,464
9	China Southern Airlines Cargo	China	7,610	6,915	8,078	6,591	6,825	6,597	6,174 #11	5,939 #11	5,355 #11	4,736 #12
10	Cargolux	Luxembourg	6,807	7,971	8,587	7,345	7,180	7,322	7,322	6,878	6,309	5,753
	Air China Cargo	China	5,633 #12	6,077 #12	7,016 #12	6,121 #11	6,767 #11	7,051	6,701	6,089	5,718	4,910 #11
	Lufthansa Cargo	Germany	5,374 #13	5,153 #16	5,324 #17	4,828 #15	7,226	7,394	7,317	7,384	6,888	7,054
	China Airlines Cargo	Taiwan	5,336 #14	6,359	7,513 #11	6,317	5,334 #13	5,804 #13	5,741 #12	5,273 #12	5,343 #12	5,266
	Singapore Airlines Cargo	Singapore	4,854 #16	5,193 #15	5,462 #16	4,156 #17	6,146 #12	6,491 #11	6,592	6,345	6,083	6,019
Sources			[32]	[33]	[34]	[25]	[35]	[26]	[27]	[28]	[29]	[36]

By fleet size

Aircraft operated

United Airlines operates the largest number of aircraft, as of February 2025.

February 2025

Rank	Airline	Country	No.	Ref.
1	United Airlines	United States	1005	[ citation needed ]
2	Delta Air Lines	United States	986	[ citation needed ]
3	American Airlines	United States	980	[ citation needed ]
4	Southwest Airlines	United States	800	[ citation needed ]
5	China Southern Airlines	China	668	[ citation needed ]
6	China Eastern Airlines	China	657	[ citation needed ]
7	SkyWest Airlines	United States	582	[ citation needed ]
8	Air China	China	503	[ citation needed ]
9	FedEx Express	United States	472	[ citation needed ]
10	IndiGo	India	438	[37]

Aircraft owned

China National Aviation Holdings Air China Group has the world's most valuable fleet, despite owning fewer aircraft than Delta Air Lines, Inc. or American Airlines Group, which co-lead by numbers.

January 2025

Rank	Holding company	No.	Value ($bn)
1	United Airlines Holdings	992	17.9
2	Delta Air Lines, Inc.	987	15.8
3	Air China Group	907	19.0
4	American Airlines Group	854	16.7
5	Southwest Airlines	830	16.8
6	Lufthansa Group	721	11.7
7	China Southern Airlines	663	17.3
8	China Eastern Airlines	652	18.5
9	Ryanair Holdings	607	15.3
10	Air France-KLM Group	572	10.7
11	IAG	570	10.4
12	SkyWest, Inc.	520	4.5

Aircraft capacity (million scheduled seats)

American Airlines leads by capacity to carry passengers.

2025

Rank	Airline	Country	Annual capacity
1	American Airlines	United States	250
2	Delta Air Lines	United States	230
3	United Airlines	United States	214
4	Southwest Airlines	United States	208
5	China Southern Airlines	China	180
6	Ryanair	Ireland	170
7	China Eastern Airlines	China	162
8	Turkish Airlines	Turkey	130
9	easyJet	United Kingdom	127
10	Emirates	United Arab Emirates	100

By route network

Countries served

Turkish Airlines serves the largest number of countries, as of February 2024.

Main article: List of airlines by countries served

August 2024

Rank	Airline	Country	No.	Ref.
1	Turkish Airlines	Turkey	120	[38]
2	Qatar Airways	Qatar	89	[39]
3	Air France	France	85	[40]
4	Ethiopian Airlines	Ethiopia	84	[41]
5	Emirates	United Arab Emirates	80	[42]
=6	British Airways	United Kingdom	77	[43]
=6	Lufthansa	Germany	77	[44]
8	United Airlines	United States	73	[45]
9	American Airlines	United States	63	[46]
10	KLM	Netherlands	62	[47]

Passenger destinations served

Main article: List of airlines with more than 100 destinations

United Airlines serves the largest number of destinations, as of February 2024.

August 2024

Rank	Airline	Country	No.	Ref.
1	United Airlines	United States	371	[45]
2	American Airlines	United States	356	[46]
3	Delta Air Lines	United States	311	[48]
4	Turkish Airlines	Turkey	287	[49]
5	China Southern Airlines	China	247	[50]
6	Ryanair	Ireland	234	[51]
7	China Eastern Airlines	China	226	[52]
8	Lufthansa	Germany	219	[44]
9	Air France	France	214	[40]
10	British Airways	United Kingdom	214	[43]

Routes served

Southwest Airlines serves the largest number of routes, as of February 2024.

February 2024^{[ citation needed ]}

Rank	Airline	Country	No.	Ref.
1	Southwest Airlines	United States	3,161	[53]
2	Ryanair	Ireland	2,631	[54]
3	American Airlines	United States	1,237	[46]
4	China Eastern Airlines	China	1,051	[52]
5	United Airlines	United States	1,033	[45]
6	Delta Air Lines	United States	975	[48]
7	China Southern Airlines	China	963	[50]
8	Air China	China	641	[55]
9	IndiGo	India	610	[56]
10	Turkish Airlines	Turkey	531	[57]

Number of daily flights

August 2024 ^[58]

Rank	Airline	Country	No.
1	American Airlines	United States	4,753
2	United Airlines	United States	4,101
3	Ryanair	Ireland	3,292
4	Southwest Airlines	United States	3,274
5	Delta Air Lines	United States	2,872
6	China Eastern Airlines	China	2,387
7	China Southern Airlines	China	2,268
8	IndiGo	India	2,074
9	Air China	China	1,681
10	easyJet	United Kingdom	1,338

See also

• Aviation portal
• Companies portal
• Transport portal
• Lists portal

• Flag carrier
• List of largest airlines in North America
• List of largest airlines in Europe
• List of largest airlines in Central America and the Caribbean
• List of largest airlines in Africa
• List of largest airlines in Asia
• List of largest airlines in South America
• List of largest airlines in Oceania
• List of airline holding companies
• List of the busiest airports in Africa
• List of the busiest airports in Asia
• List of the busiest airports in Europe
• List of the busiest airports in Latin America
• List of the busiest airports
• List of busiest airports by passenger traffic
• List of busiest airports by aircraft movements
• List of busiest passenger air routes

References

1. https://www.airwaysmag.com/new-post/largest-airlines-april
2. https://www.statista.com/chart/32723/selected-economical-indicators-of-american-delta-southwest-and-united/
3. https://www.flightglobal.com/fleets/united-claims-worlds-largest-mainline-fleet-following-milestone-aircraft-delivery/161777.article
4. https://www.ch-aviation.com/airlines/UA
5. https://www.ch-aviation.com/airlines/tk
6. "The World's Largest Public Companies". Forbes .
7. "Airlines 50 2024". Brand Finance. Brandirectory. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
8. "2023 World Airline Report: Airline Traffic Table". Air Transport World. July/August 2023. Aviation Week Network. 4 August 2023.
9. "Traffic table". Flight Global. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
10. "Traffic table". Flight Global. 2020.
11. "Traffic rankings". Flight Global. 2019.
12. "World Airline Rankings". Flight Global. 2019.
13. "World Airline Rankings". Flight Global. 2018.
14. "World Airline Rankings". Flight Global. 2017.
15. "Global Air Traffic & Top Airlines 2016 (IATA)". IMM International. 28 June 2016.
16. "Scheduled Passengers Carried". World Air Transport Statistics 59th Edition. IATA. Archived from the original on June 18, 2015.
17. "Scheduled Passengers Carried". World Air Transport Statistics 58th Edition. IATA. Archived from the original on January 2, 2015.
18. "Scheduled Passengers Carried". World Air Transport Statistics 57th Edition. IATA. Archived from the original on November 13, 2013.
19. "Cirium Airline Passenger Rankings for 2021". September 2022. Archived from the original on 2023-05-24. Retrieved 2023-01-15.
20. "Airline top 100 2022". Airfinance Journal. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
21. "Airlines, Airports and Airliners 2020 full year results" (PDF). France Aviation Civile Services. April 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
22. "Air Transport Yearly Monitor (2016)" (PDF). International Civil Aviation Organization. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
23. "Air Transport Yearly Monitor (2015)" (PDF). International Civil Aviation Organization. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
24. "Air Transport Yearly Monitor (2013)" (PDF). International Civil Aviation Organization. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
25. "World Air Transport Statistics 2021" (PDF). 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-05-24. Retrieved 2022-07-01.
26. "World Air Transport Statistics" (PDF). IATA. 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-10-29.
27. "62nd World Air Transport Statistics" (png). IATA . Retrieved 28 September 2022.
28. "Summary of passenger and freight traffic" (PDF). World Air Transport Statistics. IATA. 2017.^{[ permanent dead link ‍]}
29. "Summary of passenger and freight traffic" (PDF). World Air Transport Statistics. IATA. 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-07-05. Retrieved 2016-07-06.
30. "Scheduled Passenger - Kilometres Flown". World Air Transport Statistics 59th Edition. IATA. Archived from the original on July 6, 2015.
31. "Scheduled Passenger - Kilometres Flown". World Air Transport Statistics 58th Edition. IATA. Archived from the original on November 11, 2014.
32. Jeffrey, Rebecca (2 September 2024). "Top 25 cargo carriers: Cargo goes slow on growth in 2023". aircargo news. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
33. "Top 25 Cargo Airlines 2022". Air Cargo News. 19 September 2023. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
34. Jeffrey, Rebecca (2022-08-18). "Top 25 air cargo carriers for 2021 revealed". Air Cargo News.
35. Brett, Damian (29 July 2020). "Top 25 cargo airlines 2019: FedEx retains the top spot as Qatar climbs". Air Cargo News. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
36. "Scheduled Freight Tonne - Kilometres". World Air Transport Statistics 59th Edition. IATA. Archived from the original on July 4, 2015.
37. Kilic, Huseyin Selcuk; Zaim, Selim; Delen, Dursun (October 2014). "Development of a hybrid methodology for ERP system selection: The case of Turkish Airlines". Decision Support Systems. 66: 82–92. doi:10.1016/j.dss.2014.06.011. ISSN   0167-9236.
38. "Turkish Airlines". ch-aviation.
39. "Qatar Airways". ch-aviation.
40. "Air France". ch-aviation.
41. "Ethiopian Airlines". ch-aviation.
42. "Emirates". ch-aviation.
43. "British Airways". ch-aviation. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
44. "Lufthansa". ch-aviation. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
45. "United Airlines". ch-aviation. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
46. "American Airlines". ch-aviation. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
47. "KLM Royal Dutch Airlines". ch-aviation.
48. "Delta Air Lines". ch-aviation. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
49. "Turkish Airlines". ch-aviation.com. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
50. "China Southern Airlines". ch-aviation. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
51. "Ryanair Q1 FY25 Results" (PDF). Retrieved 29 August 2024.
52. "China Eastern Airlines". ch-aviation. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
53. "Southwest Airlines". ch-aviation.
54. "Ryanair". ch-aviation.
55. "Air China". ch-aviation.
56. "IndiGo Airlines". ch-aviation.
57. "Turkish Airlines". ch-aviation.
58. "Top 100 biggest airlines by number of daily departures". flightsfrom.com. Retrieved 29 August 2024.