Cargo airlines are airlines mainly dedicated to the transport of cargo by air. Some cargo airlines are divisions or subsidiaries of larger passenger airlines. In 2018, airline cargo traffic represented 262,333 million tonne-kilometres with a 49.3% load factor: 52.1% for dedicated cargo operations, and 47.9% within mixed operations.
Cargolux, legally Cargolux Airlines International S.A., is a Luxembourgish flag carrier cargo airline with its headquarters and hub at Luxembourg Airport. With a global network, it is among the largest scheduled all-cargo airlines in the world. Charter flights and third party maintenance are also operated. It has 85 offices in over 50 countries as of 2018, and operates a global trucking network to more than 250 destinations.
Emirates is one of two flag carriers of the United Arab Emirates. Based in Garhoud, Dubai, the airline is a subsidiary of The Emirates Group, which is owned by the government of Dubai's Investment Corporation of Dubai. It is the largest airline in the Middle East, operating over 3,600 flights per week from its hub at Terminal 3 of Dubai International Airport. It operates to more than 150 cities in 80 countries across six continents on its fleet of nearly 300 aircraft. Cargo activities are undertaken by Emirates SkyCargo.
Ministro Pistarini International Airport, also known as Ezeiza International Airport owing to its location in Ezeiza in Greater Buenos Aires, is an international airport 22 kilometres (14 mi) south-southwest of the autonomous city of Buenos Aires, the capital city of Argentina. Covering 3,475 hectares, it is one of two commercial airports serving Buenos Aires and its metropolitan area, along with Aeroparque Jorge Newbery. Pistarini Airport is the country's largest international airport by number of passengers handled—85% of international traffic—and is a hub for international flights of Aerolíneas Argentinas, which operates domestic services from the airport as well. It has been operated by Aeropuertos Argentina 2000 S.A. since 1998.
Chicago O'Hare International Airport, sometimes referred to as Chicago O'Hare, or simply O'Hare, is a major international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately 17 miles (27 km) northwest of the Loop business district. Operated by the Chicago Department of Aviation and covering 7,627 acres (3,087 ha), O'Hare has non-stop flights to 214 destinations in North America, South America, the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Oceania, and the North Atlantic region as of November 2022. As of 2023, O'Hare is considered the world's most connected airport.
Oneworld is a global airline alliance consisting of 13 member airlines. It was founded on 1 February 1999. The alliance's stated objective is to be the first choice airline alliance for the world's frequent international travellers. Its headquarters have been located in Fort Worth, Texas since December 2022.
Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport is one of two international airports of Shanghai, the municipality in East China, and a significant airline hub of China. Hongqiao Airport mainly serves domestic and regional flights, although the airport also serves select international flights. The airport is located near the town of Hongqiao in the outskirts of Changning and Minhang districts, 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) west of downtown, and is closer to the city center than the area's primary international airport, Shanghai–Pudong.
Gulf Air is the flag carrier of Bahrain, which was founded in 1950 by British pilot Freddie Bosworth as Gulf Aviation. Headquartered in Muharraq, the airline operates scheduled flights to 59 destinations in 28 countries across Africa, Asia, and Europe. The airline's main hub is at Bahrain International Airport.
Qatar Airways Company Q.C.S.C., operating as Qatar Airways, is the flag carrier of Qatar. Headquartered in the Qatar Airways Tower in Doha, the airline operates a hub-and-spoke network, flying to over 170 international destinations across five continents from its base at Hamad International Airport. The airline currently operates a fleet of more than 200 aircraft. Qatar Airways Group employs more than 43,000 people. The carrier has been a member of the Oneworld alliance since October 2013, and the official company slogan has been "Going Places Together" since 2015.
Meridiana Fly S.p.A., operating as Meridiana, was a privately owned Italian airline headquartered in Olbia with its main base at Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport. It operated scheduled and charter flights to domestic, European and intercontinental destinations from several Italian bases. Some of its operations were carried out by the old Air Italy under the Meridiana brand. It was owned by Qatar Airways through AQA Holding (49%) and Alisarda S.p.A. (51%), who rebranded the airline as the new Air Italy effective 1 March 2018.
Doha International Airport is an airport in Doha, Qatar. It was Qatar's commercial international airport until Hamad International Airport opened on 27 May 2014. While all scheduled commercial traffic ceased, the airport site and existing runway are still used by Qatar Emiri Air Force, Qatar Amiri Flight, Rizon Jet, Gulf Helicopters and Qatar Aeronautical College. It also acts as a state/diplomatic airport catering to both Qatar Amiri Flight and state-visit flights. The airport welcomed commercial flights again on 15 September 2022 for selected airlines to handle increased traffic for the 2022 FIFA World Cup that Qatar hosted in November.
The Airbus A350 is a long-range, wide-body twin-engine airliner developed and produced by Airbus. The initial A350 design proposed by Airbus in 2004, in response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, would have been a development of the Airbus A330 with composite wings and new engines. Due to inadequate market support, Airbus switched in 2006 to a clean-sheet "XWB" design, powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent XWB high bypass turbofan engines. The prototype first flew on 14 June 2013 from Toulouse, France. Type certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) was obtained in September 2014, followed by certification from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) two months later.
The largest airlines in the world can be defined in several ways. As of 2023, Delta Air Lines is the largest by revenue, assets value, fleet size, and market capitalization; American Airlines Group by passengers carried, revenue passenger mile, number of employees and destinations served; FedEx Express by freight tonne-kilometers; Ryanair by number of routes; and Turkish Airlines by number of countries served.
An airline hub or hub airport is an airport used by one or more airlines to concentrate passenger traffic and flight operations. Hubs serve as transfer points to help get passengers to their final destination. It is part of the hub-and-spoke system. An airline may operate flights from several non-hub (spoke) cities to the hub airport, and passengers traveling between spoke cities connect through the hub. This paradigm creates economies of scale that allow an airline to serve city-pairs that could otherwise not be economically served on a non-stop basis. This system contrasts with the point-to-point model, in which there are no hubs and nonstop flights are instead offered between spoke cities. Hub airports also serve origin and destination (O&D) traffic.
Air Italy S.p.A., operating as Air Italy was an Italian airline, headquartered in Milan. Using wet-leased aircraft from Boeing, it operated from 2005 to 2018, later as the main airline of Air Italy Group together with two other subsidiaries, Air Italy Egypt and Air Italy Polska, which both later ceased operation. After 2011, Air Italy was a fully integrated subsidiary of Meridiana, then known as Meridiana fly, and continued its operation under the Meridiana Brand but keeping its own AOC. On 28 February 2018, Air Italy reorganised with Meridiana to create the new Air Italy under the new ownership of Meridiana's parent company, AQA Holding.
Hamad International Airport is an international airport in Qatar, and the home of the national flag carrier airline, Qatar Airways. Located east of the capital, Doha, it replaced the nearby Doha International Airport as Qatar's principal and main national airport.
International Consolidated Airlines Group S.A., trading as International Airlines Group and usually shortened to IAG, is an Anglo-Spanish multinational airline holding company with its registered office in Madrid, Spain, and its corporate headquarters in London, England. It was formed in January 2011 after a merger agreement between British Airways and Iberia, the flag carriers of the United Kingdom and Spain respectively, when British Airways and Iberia became wholly owned subsidiaries of IAG. British Airways shareholders were given 55% of the shares in the new company.
RwandAir Limited is the flag carrier airline of Rwanda. It operates domestic and international services to East Africa, Central Africa, West Africa, Southern Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, from its main base at Kigali International Airport in Kigali.
Air Italy was a privately owned Italian airline, headquartered in Olbia, Sardinia. In 2019, the company was the second largest airline in Italy, behind Italian flag carrier Alitalia, and the 40th largest in Europe by number of passengers in 2019. The airline was a subsidiary of AQA Holding, owned by Alisarda (51%) and Qatar Airways (49%). The airline operated a fleet of Boeing 737NG, Boeing 737 MAX 8 and Airbus A330 aircraft to over 34 scheduled domestic, European and intercontinental destinations. The airline operated from its main hub at Milan Malpensa Airport.
