The largest airlines in the world can be defined in several ways. As of 2023[update] Delta Air Lines was the largest by revenue , assets , fleet size, market capitalization and brand value; American Airlines Group by passengers carried and employees ; FedEx Express by freight tonne-kilometers ; Southwest Airlines by routes; and Turkish Airlines by countries served.
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 2022, 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.
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.Forbes ' world's biggest public airline companies by revenue (as of January 2023)[1] Rank Airline Country Revenue Profit Assets Market Employees (US$ billions) 1 Delta Air Lines United States 53.99 1.90 73.13 21.81 95,000 2 American Airlines Group United States 52.26 1.77 66.79 9.05 129,700 3 United Airlines Holdings United States 48.82 1.92 70.42 14.7 103,300 4 Lufthansa Group Germany 35.80 0.94 48.79 12.10 109,509 5 Air France–KLM France /Netherlands 29.41 0.97 34.81 4.12 78,950 6 Southwest Airlines United States 24.83 0.65 35.55 17.65 66,000 7 International Airlines Group UK /Spain 24.28 1.15 41.95 9.41 66,044 8 Turkish Airlines Turkey 19.68 2.79 32.00 8.88 40,264 9 China Southern Airlines China 12.92 –4.81 44.92 12.54 100,431 10 Air Canada Canada 12.72 –1.31 21.78 5.33 42,916
Note that Emirates is a state-owned company, and is thus not included in this list of public companies. Its 2023 revenue was estimated over US$29.2 billion, which would have had placed the company into 6th place. 2021's over US$18 billion and 5th place. Its 2014-2015 revenue was DH 88.819 billion (US$ 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. Qatar Airways Group is similarly privately held with 2023 revenue of nearly 21 billions USD placing it into the 9th place (with Emirates included) above the Turkish Airlines.
edit American Airlines and United Express aircraft at Los Angeles International Airport Airline holding groups Rank Airline Group Country 2022[3] 2021[15] [16] 2020[5] 2019[17] 2017[8] 2016[18] 2015[19] 2013[20] 1 American Airlines Group United States 347,221 259,570 147,746 388,254 364,191 ~359,400 358,823 ~206,500 2 United Airlines Holdings United States 332,997 207,572 118,878 385,211 347,963 ~328,200 335,728 ~287,200 3 Delta Air Lines Group United States 314,783 216,766 118,120 382,400 350,299 ~342,600 337,264 ~278,000 4 Air France–KLM France /Netherlands 237,567 116,104 81,212 275,500 248,476 ~238,200 235,715 ~228,900 5 Emirates United Arab Emirates 225,867 93,799 #11 78,746 298,000 292,221 ~270,800 255,176 ~209,300 6 International Airlines Group UK /Spain 215,749 78,689 #15 72,262 285,800 252,819 ~243,500 221,996 186,304 7 Lufthansa Group Germany 207,035 89,397 #13 69,462 296,500 261,156 ~226,600 220,400 ~153,400 8 Southwest Airlines United States 199,425 166,667 87,242 211,379 #11 207,802 ~200,700 189,057 ~167,800 9 Turkish Airlines Turkey 162,665 153,200 #15 10 Qatar Airways Qatar 154,372 172,600 #13 Ryanair Ireland 116,625 #11 ~121,000 185,405 #12 130,588 #12 ~103,500 #15 China Southern Air Holding China 102,078 #13 152,426 153,442 284,900 230,697 ~206,100 189,552 ~148,400 Aeroflot Group Russia 98,407 #14 100,112 68,014 #11 156,250 #14 97,636 #20 China Eastern Air Holding China 61,272 #23 108,804 107,302 220,000 183,152 ~167,500 #11 146,291 #11 ~120,400 #11 Air China Group China 60,354 #24 104,626 109,832 233,178 201,090 ~188,100 171,695 ~142,600
Individual airlines Rank Airline Country 2022[4] 2021[15] 2020[21] 2019 2018[22] 2017[23] 2016[24] 2015[25] 2014[26] 2013[27] 2012[28] 2011[29] 1 American Airlines United States 308,065 237,471 123,997 342,510 330,577 323,968 320,044 320,813 208,046 206,551 203,336 203,485 2 United Airlines United States 305,893 178,499 100,188 342,935 329,562 310,859 299,080 294,970 287,547 286,802 288,282 160,270 3 Delta Air Lines United States 292,202 195,312 106,488 350,145 330,034 316,378 308,088 302,512 290,862 277,560 271,567 269,724 4 Emirates United Arab Emirates 225,867 93,799 78,746 299,496 302,298 288,886 270,797 251,190 230,855 209,377 180,880 153,264 5 Ryanair Ireland ~207,000 120,563 64,928 185,405 170,900 157,114 142,740 125,194 6 Southwest Airlines United States 199,263 166,631 87,263 211,379 214,561 207,762 200,848 189,097 162,445 145,124 137,708 134,918 7 Qatar Airways Qatar ~168,000 91,551 57,171 172,591 152,210 #11 137,603 #11 8 Turkish Airlines Turkey 162,655 86,701 52,206 #11 150,240 #14 145,521 #13 125,098 #14 9 Air France France 123,444 60,180 #13 48,809 #12 150,870 #13 143,904 #14 136,659 #12 139,217 134,528 136,405 135,821 133,035 10 Lufthansa Germany 119,363 50,067 #17 37,503 #16 165,945 #11 158,986 152,214 149,702 145,904 143,403 144,236 142,512 140,972 British Airways United Kingdom 104,496 #12 30,698 #30 38,825 #14 155,252 #12 151,784 #12 144,028 140,780 137,204 130,129 124,318 116,864 China Southern Airlines China 102,078 #13 109,309 110,650 213,573 200,239 177,458 205,720 189,186 166,074 147,841 135,021 121,944 Qantas Australia 63,849 #22 10,157 #77 86,199 #24 85,663 #23 120,029 #15 110,203 108,051 China Eastern Airlines China 61,288 #24 88,677 88,728 186,644 166,282 150,916 138,042 Air China China 60,355 #25 67,745 #11 71,417 169,030 161,199 146,961 135,464 #13 112,247 - Continental Airlines ‡ United States —‡ 131,583
‡ - marks a defunct airline.
edit FedEx Express is the largest by freight tonne-kilometers .Rank Airline Country 2022[30] 2021[31] 2020[21] 2019[32] 2018[22] 2017[23] 2016[24] 2015[25] 2014[33] 2013[34] 2012[35] 1 FedEx Express United States 19,547 20,660 19,656 17,503 17,499 16,851 15,712 15,799 16,020 16,127 16,108 2 UPS Airlines United States 15,889 15,529 14,371 12,842 12,459 11,940 11,264 10,807 10,936 10,584 10,416 3 Qatar Airways Cargo Qatar 14,267 16,102 13,740 13,024 12,695 10,999 9,221 7,660 5,997 4,972 4 Emirates SkyCargo United Arab Emirates 10,153 11,842 9,569 12,052 12,713 12,715 12,270 12,157 11,240 10,459 9,319 5 Korean Air Cargo South Korea 9,518 10,429 8,104 7,412 7,839 8,015 7,666 7,761 8,079 7,666 8,144 6 Atlas Air United States 8,675 8,441 5,458 #12 4,522 #16 4,553 #16 7 Turkish Cargo Turkey 8,318 9,223 6,977 7,029 5,890 #12 4,728 #15 3,640 #20 8 Cargolux Luxembourg 7,971 8,587 7,345 7,180 7,322 7,322 6,878 6,309 5,753 5,225 9 China Southern Airlines Cargo China 6,915 8,078 6,591 6,825 6,597 6,174 #11 5,939 #11 5,355 #11 4,736 #12 10 China Airlines Cargo Taiwan 6,359 7,513 #11 6,317 5,334 #13 5,804 #13 5,741 #12 5,273 #12 5,343 #12 5,266 4,813 4,538 Air China Cargo China 6,077 #12 7,016 #12 6,121 #11 6,767 #11 7,051 6,701 6,089 5,718 4,910 #11 Cathay Pacific Cargo Hong Kong 5,774 #13 8,215 8,137 10,930 11,284 10,772 9,947 9,935 9,464 8,241 8,433 Singapore Airlines Cargo Singapore 5,193 #15 5,462 #16 4,156 #17 6,146 #12 6,491 #11 6,592 6,345 6,083 6,019 6,240 6,694 Lufthansa Cargo Germany 5,153 #16 5,324 #17 4,828 #15 7,226 7,394 7,317 7,384 6,888 7,054 7,218 7,175
Delta Air Lines operates the largest number of aircraft, as of June 2024.^ a b c Mainline carrier. Includes mainline (non-regional) fleet only.^ Non-mainline (regional) carrier. ^ Cargo carrier.
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.American Airlines leads by capacity to carry passengers.2022[48] Rank Airline Country Annual Capacity 1 American Airlines United States 248,299,958 2 Delta Air Lines United States 210,132,982 3 Southwest Airlines United States 208,191,620 4 United Airlines United States 177,513,595 5 Ryanair Ireland 169,559,280 6 China Southern Airlines China 106,602,244 7 China Eastern Airlines China 101,138,367 8 IndiGo India 99,449,786 9 Turkish Airlines Turkey 89,471,060 10 easyJet United Kingdom 88,142,891
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