Largest airlines in the world

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 and market capitalization; American Airlines Group by passengers carried, revenue passenger mile, fleet size, numbers of employees and destinations served; FedEx Express by freight tonne-kilometers; Ryanair by number of routes; and Turkish Airlines by number of countries served.

By company revenue
Delta Air Lines is the largest by revenue, assets value and market capitalization.
American Airlines Group is the largest by number of employees.
Forbes' world's biggest public airline companies by revenue (as of January 2023)[1]
Rank Airline Country Revenue Profit Assets Market
cap.		 Employees
(US$ billions)
1 Delta Air Lines United States 53.991.9073.1321.8195,000
2 American Airlines Group United States 52.261.7766.799.05129,700
3 United Airlines Holdings United States 48.821.9270.4214.792,800
4 Lufthansa Group Germany 35.80.9448.7912.10109,509
5 Air France–KLM France/ Netherlands 29.410.9734.814.1278,950
6 Southwest Airlines United States 24.830.6535.5517.6566,000
7 International Airlines Group UK/ Spain 24.280.4741.959.4166,044
8 Turkish Airlines Turkey 19.682.7932.008.8840,264
9 China Southern Airlines China 12.92–4.8144.9212.54100,431
10 Air Canada Canada 12.72–1.3121.785.3342,916

Note that Emirates is a state-owned company and is thus not included in this list of public companies. Its 2021 revenue was estimated over 18 billion USD, which would had placed the company into 5th place. Its 2014-2015 revenue was Dhs. 88.819 billion (US$24.2 billion), profit Dhs. 4.555 billion (US$1.24 billion), and assets Dhs. 111.362 billion (US$30.34 billion), with 56,725 employees. Qatar Airways Group is similarly privately held.

By passengers carried
China Southern Airlines group carried the most passengers in 2020.
Airline groups
Millions of passengers carried
Rank Airline Country 2022[2] 2020[3] 2019[4] 2018[5] 2017[6] 2016[7] 2015[8] 2014[9] 2013[10] 2012[11] 2011[12]
1 American Airlines Group  United States 199.395.3215.2203.7199.6198.7146.5387.8386.82386.33586.042
2 Delta Air Lines Group  United States ~17780.0204.0192.5186.4183.7138.842129.433120.636116.726113.731
3 Ryanair  Ireland 160.452.4148.6142.1130.3119.8101.40186.37081.39579.64976.422
4 Southwest Airlines  United States 157.067.8162.7163.6157.8151.8144.575129.087115.323112.234110.587
5 United Airlines Holdings  United States 144.357.8162.4158.3148.1143.295.38490.43990.16192.61950.473
6 Lufthansa Group  Germany 101.836.4145.2142.3130.0117.4115.2112.5110.4108.9112.0
7 IAG  UK/ Spain 94.731.3 #12118.3112.9104.83100.794.977.367.254.651.7
8 Air France–KLM  France/ Netherlands 83.328.9 #1485.6 #12
9 IndiGo  India 75.335.0 #1161.9 #16
10 Turkish Airlines  Turkey 71.828.0 #17=75.2 #14
China Southern Air Holding  China 62.6 #1296.9151.6139.9126.384.9109.301100.68391.50486.27780.545
China Eastern Air Holding  China 42.5 #1674.5130.2121.1110.880.975.13966.17462.65379.6173.1
Air China Group  China 38.6 #2168.7115.0109.7101.696.589.883.077.772.469.4
Hainan Airlines Group  China 3779.9 #13
Airlines

The IATA reports numbers for individual air operator's certificates and groups of multiple airlines can report larger numbers.

By scheduled passenger-kilometers flown (millions)
American Airlines and United Express aircraft at Los Angeles International Airport
Airline holding groups
Rank Group Country 2022[2] 2021[13][14] 2020[3] 2019[15] 2017[6] 2016[16] 2015[17] 2013[18]
1 American Airlines Group United States347,221259,570147,746388,254364,191~359,400358,823~206,500
2 United Airlines Holdings United States332,997207,572118,878385,211347,963~328,200335,728~287,200
3 Delta Air Lines Group United States314,783216,766118,120382,400350,299~342,600337,264~278,000
4 Air France–KLM France/ Netherlands237,567116,10481,212275,500248,476~238,200235,715~228,900
5 Emirates United Arab Emirates225,86793,799 #1178,746298,000292,221~270,800255,176~209,300
6 International Airlines Group UK/ Spain215,74978,689 #1572,262285,800252,819~243,500221,996186,304
7 Lufthansa Group Germany207,03589,397 #1369,462296,500261,156~226,600220,400~153,400
8 Southwest Airlines United States199,425166,66787,242211,379 #11207,802~200,700189,057~167,800
9 Turkish Airlines Turkey162,665153,200 #15
10 Qatar Airways Qatar154,372172,600 #13
Ryanair Ireland116,625 #11~121,000185,405 #12130,588 #12~103,500 #15
China Southern Air Holding China102,078 #13152,426153,442284,900230,697~206,100189,552~148,400
Aeroflot Group Russia98,407 #14100,11268,014 #11156,250 #1497,636 #20
China Eastern Air Holding China61,272 #23108,804107,302220,000183,152~167,500 #11146,291 #11~120,400 #11
Air China Group China60,354 #24104,626109,832233,178201,090~188,100171,695~142,600
Individual airlines
Rank Airline Country 2021[13] 2020[19] 2019 2018[20] 2017[21] 2016[22] 2015[23] 2014[24] 2013[25] 2012[26] 2011[27]
1 American Airlines United States 237,471123,997342,510330,577323,968320,044320,813208,046206,551203,336203,485
2 Delta Air Lines United States 195,312106,488350,145330,034316,378308,088302,512290,862277,560271,567269,724
3 United Airlines United States 178,499100,188342,935329,562310,859299,080294,970287,547286,802288,282160,270
4 Southwest Airlines United States 166,63187,263211,379214,561207,762200,848189,097162,445145,124137,708134,918
5 Ryanair Ireland 120,56364,928185,405170,900157,114142,740125,194
6 China Southern Airlines China 109,309110,650213,573200,239177,458205,720189,186166,074147,841135,021121,944
7 Emirates United Arab Emirates 93,79978,746299,496302,298288,886270,797251,190230,855209,377180,880153,264
8 Qatar Airways Qatar 91,55157,171172,591152,210 #11
9 China Eastern Airlines China 88,67788,728186,644166,282150,916138,042
10 Turkish Airlines Turkey 86,70152,206 #11150,240 #14145,521 #13
Air China China 67,745 #1171,417169,030161,199146,961112,247-
Air France France 60,180 #1348,809 #12150,870 #13143,904 #14139,217134,528136,405135,821133,035
Lufthansa Germany 50,067 #1737,503 #16165,945 #11158,986152,214149,702145,904143,403144,236142,512140,972
British Airways United Kingdom 30,698 #3038,825 #14155,252 #12151,784 #12144,028140,780137,204130,129124,318116,864
Qantas Australia 10,157 #7786,199 #2485,663 #23110,203108,051
Continental Airlines‡ United States —‡131,583

‡ - marks a defunct airline.

By scheduled freight tonne-kilometers (millions)
FedEx Express is the largest by freight tonne-kilometers.
Rank Airline Country 2021[28] 2020[19] 2019 2018[20] 2017[21] 2016[22] 2015[23] 2014[29] 2013[30] 2012[31]
1 FedEx Express  United States 20,660 19,656 17,503 17,49916,85115,71215,79916,02016,12716,108
2 Qatar Airways Cargo  Qatar 16,102 13,740 13,024 12,69510,9999,2217,6605,9974,972
3 UPS Airlines  United States 15,529 14,371 12,842 12,45911,94011,26410,80710,93610,58410,416
4 Emirates SkyCargo  United Arab Emirates 11,842 9,569 12,052 12,71312,71512,27012,15711,24010,4599,319
5 Korean Air Cargo  South Korea 10,429 8,104 7,412 7,8398,0157,6667,7618,0797,6668,144
6 Turkish Cargo  Turkey 9,223 6,977 7,029 5,890 #12
7 Cargolux  Luxembourg 8,587 7,345 7,180 7,3227,3226,8786,3095,7535,225
8 Atlas Air  United States 8,441 5,458 #12 4,522 #16 4,553 #16
9 Cathay Pacific Cargo  Hong Kong 8,215 8,137 10,930 11,28410,7729,9479,9359,4648,2418,433
10 China Southern Airlines Cargo  China 8,078 6,591 6,825 6,597
China Airlines Cargo  Taiwan 7,513 #11 6,317 5,334 #13 5,804 #135,2664,8134,538
Air China Cargo  China 7,016 #12 6,121 #11 6,767 #11 7,0516,7016,0895,718
Singapore Airlines Cargo  Singapore 5,462 #16 4,156 #17 6,146 #12 6,491 #116,5926,3456,0836,0196,2406,694
Lufthansa Cargo  Germany 5,324 #17 4,828 #15 7,226 7,3947,3177,3846,8887,0547,2187,175

By fleet size

By number of countries served
Turkish Airlines is the largest airline by number of countries served.
Rank Airline Country Countries served
(S1 2019)[45]
1 Turkish Airlines  Turkey 129
2 Air France  France 91
3 British Airways  United Kingdom 82
4 Ethiopian Airlines  Ethiopia 81
5 Emirates  United Arab Emirates 78
Qatar Airways  Qatar
7 Lufthansa  Germany 75
8 KLM  Netherlands 67
9 American Airlines  United States 62
United Airlines

By number of routes
Ryanair is the largest airline by number of routes.
RankAirlineCountryRoutes served
(S1 2019)[45]
1 Ryanair Ireland1,831
2 American Airlines United States1,106
3 United Airlines United States950
4 easyJet United Kingdom945
5 Delta Air Lines United States939
6 Southwest Airlines United States754
7 China Southern Airlines China667
8 China Eastern Airlines China648
9 Wizz Air Hungary615
10 Air China China470
TUI Airways United Kingdom470

By number of destinations
Main article: List of airlines with more than 100 destinations
American Airlines serves the most destinations.
Largest airlines by number of destinations served[46]
Rank Airline Country Destinations
(Jan. 2023)
1 American Airlines  United States 350[note 1]
2 Turkish Airlines  Turkey 340
3 United Airlines  United States 332[note 2]
4 Delta Air Lines  United States 275
5 Ryanair  Ireland 229[note 3]
6 Air Canada  Canada 222
7 China Eastern Airlines  China 220
8 Lufthansa  Germany 218
9 China Southern Airlines  China 209
10 Air France  France 203
  1. Jul. 2022
  2. Aug. 2021
  3. Apr. 2022

By brand value
Delta Air Lines is the largest airline in the world by brand value.
Largest airlines by brand value (US$ billions) according to Brand Finance (2023)[47]
Rank Airline Country $bn Year-to-year
change
1 Same position Delta Air Lines  United States 8.922 +21.8%
2 Same position American Airlines  United States 8.488 +35.5%
3 Same position United Airlines  United States 7.782 +41.9%
4 Same position Emirates  United Arab Emirates 5.104 +2.4%
5 Same position Southwest Airlines  United States 4.703 −4.6%
6 Rise China Southern Airlines  China 3.229 +39.5%
7 Rise China Eastern Airlines  China 2.852 +25.7%
8 Same position Air China  China 2.603 +9.3%
9 Fall Air Canada  Canada 2.584 +2.9%
10 Rise Qatar Airways  Qatar 2.470 +22.6%

See also

References
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