Largest airlines in the world

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The largest airlines in the world can be defined in several ways. As of 2019, American Airlines Group was the largest by fleet size, passengers carried and revenue passenger mile. Delta Air Lines was the largest by revenue, assets value and market capitalization. Lufthansa Group was the largest by number of employees, FedEx Express by freight tonne-kilometers, Turkish Airlines by number of countries served, Ryanair by number of routes and UPS Airlines by number of destinations served.

However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as of 26 October 2020 the largest airline[when defined as?] in the world is China Southern. American Airlines is now in second place, with Delta at number three.[1]

By company revenue[]

Delta Air Lines is the largest by revenue, assets value and market capitalization.
Lufthansa Group is the largest by number of employees.
Forbes' world's biggest public airline companies by revenue (as of January 2020)[2]
Rank Airline Country Revenue Profit Assets Market
cap. 		Employees
(US$ billions)
1 Delta Air Lines  United States 44.9 4.1 61.8 38.1 89,000
2 American Airlines Group  United States 44.5 1.4 60.6 15.4 128,900
3 Lufthansa Group  Germany 42.3 2.6 44.4 12.1 135,534
4 United Airlines  United States 41.9 2.3 50.6 23.3 92,000
5 Air France–KLM  France/ Netherlands 31.3 0.5 33.2 5.3 81,527
6 IAG  Spain/ UK 28.8 3.4 32.0 14.4 63,531
7 Southwest Airlines  United States 22.0 2.5 27.3 28.5 58,800
8 China Southern Airlines  China 21.7 0.5 36.0 14.8 100,831
9 All Nippon Airways  Japan 18.6 0.9 23.6 12.0 33,719
10 China Eastern Airlines  China 17.3 0.4 34.5 14.9 77,005

Note that Emirates is a state-owned company and is thus not included in this list of public companies. Its 2014-2015 revenue was DH 88.819 billion (US$24.2 billion), profit DH 4.555 billion (US$1.24 billion), and assets DH 111.362 billion (US$30.34 billion), with 56,725 employees.

By passengers carried[]

Airline groups
Millions of passengers carried
Rank Airline Country 2019
[citation needed] 		2018
[citation needed] 		2017[3] 2016[4] 2015[5] 2014[6] 2013[7] 2012[8] 2011[9]
1 American Airlines Group  United States 215.18 203.74 199.6 198.7 146.53 87.83 86.823 86.335 86.042
2 Delta Air Lines  United States 204.00 192.46 186.4 183.7 138.842 129.433 120.636 116.726 113.731
3 Southwest Airlines  United States 162.68 163.60 157.8 151.8 144.575 129.087 115.323 112.234 110.587
4 United Airlines  United States 162.44 158.33 148.1 143.2 95.384 90.439 90.161 92.619 50.473
5 Ryanair  Ireland 152.4 139.2 130.3 119.8 101.401 86.370 81.395 79.649 76.422
6 China Southern Airlines  China 151.63 139.8 126.3 84.9 109.301 100.683 91.504 86.277 80.545
7 Lufthansa Group  Germany 145.2 142.3 130.0 117.4 115.2 112.5 110.4 108.9 112.0
8 China Eastern Airlines  China 121.1 110.8 80.9 75.139 66.174 62.653 79.61 73.1
9 IAG  Spain/ UK 118.3 112.92 104.83 100.7 94.9 77.3 67.2 54.6 51.7
10 Air China Group  China 115.00 109.7 101.6 96.5 89.8 83.0 77.7 72.4 69.4
Airlines

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

By passengers carried (thousands).png

By scheduled passenger-kilometers flown (millions)[]

United and Swiss (Lufthansa Group) at Tokyo Narita Airport.
Airline holding groups
Rank Group Country 2017[3]
1 American Airlines Group  United States 364,191
2 Delta Air Lines  United States 350,299
3 United Airlines Holdings  United States 347,963
4 The Emirates Group  United Arab Emirates 292,221
5 Lufthansa Group  Germany 261,156
6 International Airlines Group  Spain/ United Kingdom
7 Air France–KLM  France/ Netherlands 248,476
8 China Southern Airlines  China 230,697
9 Southwest Airlines  United States 207,802
10 Air China  China 201,090
Individual airlines
Rank Airline Country 2018[10] 2016[11] 2015[12] 2014[13] 2013[14] 2012[15] 2011[16]
1 American Airlines  United States 330,577 320,044 320,813 208,046 206,551 203,336 203,485
2 Delta Air Lines  United States 330,034 308,088 302,512 290,862 277,560 271,567 269,724
3 United Airlines  United States 329,562 299,080 294,970 287,547 286,802 288,282 160,270
4 Emirates  United Arab Emirates 302,298 270,797 251,190 230,855 209,377 180,880 153,264
5 Southwest Airlines  United States 214,561 200,848 189,097 162,445 145,124 137,708 134,918
6 China Southern Airlines  China 200,239 205,720 189,186 166,074 147,841 135,021 121,944
7 Ryanair  Ireland 170,900 142,740 125,194
8 China Eastern Airlines  China 166,282 138,042
9 Air China  China 161,199 -
10 Lufthansa  Germany 158,986 149,702 145,904 143,403 144,236 142,512 140,972
British Airways  United Kingdom 144,028 140,780 137,204 130,129 124,318 116,864

By scheduled freight tonne-kilometers (millions)[]

FedEx Express is the largest by freight tonne-kilometers.
Rank Airline Country 2020 2019 2018[10] 2017
[citation needed] 		2016[11] 2015[12] 2014[17] 2013[18] 2012[19] 2011[20]
1 FedEx Express  United States 20,656 17,503 17,499 16,851 15,712 15,799 16,020 16,127 16,108 15,939
2 UPS Airlines  United States 14,371 12,842 12,459 11,940 11,264 10,807 10,936 10,584 10,416 10,566
3 Qatar Airways Cargo  Qatar 13,740 13,024 12,695 10,999 9,221 7,660 5,997 4,972
4 Emirates SkyCargo  United Arab Emirates 9,569 12,052 12,713 12,715 12,270 12,157 11,240 10,459 9,319 8,132
5 Cathay Pacific Cargo  Hong Kong 8,137 10,930 11,284 10,772 9,947 9,935 9,464 8,241 8,433 9,109
6 Korean Air Cargo  South Korea 8,104 7,412 7,839 8,015 7,666 7,761 8,079 7,666 8,144 8,974
7 Lufthansa Cargo  Germany - 7,226 7,394 7,317 7,384 6,888 7,054 7,218 7,175 7,674
8 Cargolux  Luxembourg 7,345 7,180 7,322 7,322 6,878 6,309 5,753 5,225
9 Air China Cargo  China - - 7,051 6,701 6,089 5,718
10 China Southern Airlines  China 6,591 6,825 6,597
Singapore Airlines Cargo  Singapore - - - 6,592 6,345 6,083 6,019 6,240 6,694 7,118

By fleet size[]

American Airlines is the largest by fleet size, passengers carried and RPK.
FedEx Express is one of the largest airlines by fleet size and revenue.
May 23, 2019[21]
Rank Airline Country Fleet Widebody Narrowbody Regional aircraft
1 American Airlines  United States 891 118 773 20
2 United Airlines  United States 819 210 609
3 FedEx Express  United States 780+ 320+
4 Delta Air Lines  United States 775 120 655
5 Southwest Airlines  United States 753 753
6 China Southern Airlines  China 603 97 463 19
7 China Eastern Airlines  China 578 79 491 3
8 SkyWest  United States 486 486
9 Ryanair  Ireland 456 456
10 Air China  China 439 130 306
12 Lufthansa  Germany 360 115 198 47
13 Turkish Airlines  Turkey 332 107 225

By number of countries served[]

Turkish Airlines is the largest airline by number of countries served.
Rank Airline Country Countries served
(S1 2019)[22]
1 Turkish Airlines  Turkey 121
2 Air France  France 91
3 British Airways  United Kingdom 82
4 Ethiopian Airlines  Ethiopia 81
5 Emirates  United Arab Emirates 78
6 Qatar Airways  Qatar 78
7 Lufthansa  Germany 75
8 KLM  Netherlands 67
9 American Airlines  United States 62
United Airlines  United States 62

By number of routes[]

Rank Airline Country Routes served
(S1 2019)[22]
1 Ryanair  Ireland 1,831
2 American Airlines  United States 1,106
3 United Airlines  United States 950
4 easyJet  United Kingdom 945
5 Delta Air Lines  United States 939
6 Southwest Airlines  United States 754
7 China Southern Airlines  China 667
7 China Eastern Airlines  China 648
8 Wizz Air  Hungary 615
9 Air China  China 470
10 TUI Airways  United Kingdom 470

By number of destinations[]

UPS Airlines serves the most destinations.
Largest airlines by number of destinations served[23]
Rank Airline Country Destinations
(Dec. 2017)
1 UPS Airlines  United States 815
2 FedEx Express  United States 375
3 United Airlines  United States 373
4 American Airlines  United States 350
5 Delta Air Lines  United States 320
6 Turkish Airlines  Turkey 302
7 Lufthansa  Germany 274
8 China Eastern Airlines  China 217
9 Air France  France 204
10 Air China  China 201

By brand value[]

Largest airlines by brand value (US$ billions) according to Brand Finance (2018)[24]
Rank Airline Country $bn
1 American Airlines  United States 9.094
2 Delta Air Lines  United States 8.712
3 United Airlines  United States 7.027
4 Emirates  United Arab Emirates 5.336
5 Southwest Airlines  United States 5.298
6 China Southern Airlines  China 4.063
7 China Eastern Airlines  China 3.81
8 British Airways  United Kingdom 3.484
9 Air China  China 3.433
10 Lufthansa  Germany 2.914

See also[]

References[]

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  2. ^ "The World's Largest Public Companies". Forbes.
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  17. ^ "Scheduled Freight Tonne - Kilometres". World Air Transport Statistics 59th Edition. IATA. Archived from the original on July 4, 2015.
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  22. ^ Jump up to: a b "Ethiopian Airlines set to serve more country markets than MEB3 in S19, Ryanair still tops route table". Airline Network News and Analysis. 27 February 2019. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  23. ^ "Top 10 World's Largest Airlines". AirportSpotting. 8 December 2017.
  24. ^ "American Airlines Tops The World's Most Valuable Airlines List in 2018". Airways International. April 26, 2018.
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