# Largest airlines in the world

The largest airlines in the world can be measured in several ways. As of 2024, United Airlines was the largest in terms of available seat miles (ASM), revenue seat miles (RPM), mainline fleet size, the number of both mainline employees and destinations served; 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 when American Eagle is included; FedEx Express carries the most freight in tonne-kilometers; Southwest Airlines has the greatest number of routes; and Turkish Airlines serves the most countries.

## Financial Performance
### Revenue ($b 2024)

| Rank | Airline Group | Country | Revenue | Net Income | Assets | Market Cap | Employees |
| Employees ||||
| 1 | Delta Air Lines | United States | 61.6 | 3.5 | 75.3 | 39 | 103,000 |
| 2 | United Airlines Holdings | United States | 57.1 | 3.1 | 74.1 | 32 | 107,300 |
| 3 | American Airlines Group | United States | 54.2 | 1.3 | 68.8 | 11 | 133,300 |
| 4 | Lufthansa Group | Germany | 40.4 | 1.5 | 51.1 | 9 | 98,739 |
| 5 | Air France–KLM | France/ Netherlands | 36.2 | 0.69 | 37.5 | 2.4 | 76,566 |
| 6 | International Airlines Group | Spain/ United Kingdom | 34.2 | 2.9 | 41.6 | 21 | 71,794 |
| 7 | Southwest Airlines | United States | 27.5 | 0.47 | 33.8 | 17 | 72,450 |
| 8 | China Southern Airlines | China | 24.5 | –0.59 | 43.7 | 13 | 97,899 |
| 9 | Air China | China | 23.0 | 1.6 | 22.0 | 17 | 87,190 |
| 10 | Turkish Airlines | Turkey | 22.5 | 6.8 | 35.6 | 12 | 57,991 |
Note that Emirates is a state-owned company, and is thus not included in this list of public companies. Its 2024 revenue was estimated to be around $37.4B or 5th place. Qatar Airways Group is similarly privately held with its 2024 revenue of around $22.2B or 10th place (with Emirates included).

### Brand Value ($b 2024)

| 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% |

## Capacity
### Airlines - Available Seat Miles (ASM in billions)

| Rank | Airline | Country | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 |
| 1 | United Airlines | United States | 311 | 291 | 248 | 179 | 123 | 285 |
| 2 | American Airlines | United States | 293 | 278 | 260 | 215 | 143 | 285 |
| 3 | Delta Air Lines | United States | 288 | 272 | 233 | 194 | 134 | 275 |
| 4 | Emirates | United Arab Emirates | 222 | 230 | 177 | 99 | 40 | 228 |
| 5 | Southwest Airlines | United States | 178 | 170 | 148 | 132 | 103 | 157 |
| 6 | Qatar Airways | Qatar | 159 | 157 | 131 | 100 | 58 | 149 |
| 7 | Ryanair | Ireland | 159 | 152 | 138 | 91 | 30 | 118 |
| 8 | China Southern Airlines | China | 151 | 197 | 96 | 133 | 134 | 214 |
| 9 | Turkish Airlines | Turkey | 145 | 146 | 124 | 80 | 47 | 117 |
| 10 | China Eastern Airlines | China | 138 | 114 | 60 | 100 | 95 | 168 |

### Airline Groups - Available Seat Kilometers (ASK in billions)

| Rank | Airline Group | Country | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 |
| 1 | American Airlines Group | United States | 347 | 259 | 147 | 388 |
| 2 | United Airlines Holdings | United States | 332 | 207 | 118 | 385 |
| 3 | Delta Air Lines Group | United States | 314 | 216 | 118 | 382 |
| 4 | Air France–KLM | France/ Netherlands | 237 | 116 | 81 | 275 |
| 5 | Emirates | United Arab Emirates | 225 | 93 #11 | 78 | 298 |
| 6 | International Airlines Group | UK/ Spain | 215 | 78 #15 | 72 | 285 |
| 7 | Lufthansa Group | Germany | 207 | 89 #13 | 69 | 296 |
| 8 | Southwest Airlines | United States | 199 | 166 | 87 | 211 #11 |
| 9 | Turkish Airlines | Turkey | 162 | 86 #14 | | 153 #15 |
| 10 | Qatar Airways | Qatar | 154 | | | 172 #13 |
| Sources | Sources | Sources | | | | |

### Airline Groups - Passengers (millions)

| Rank | Airline Group | Country | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
| 1 | American Airlines Group | United States | 211 | 199 | 124 | 95 | 215 | 203 |
| 2 | Delta Air Lines | United States | 190 | 175 | 123 | 80 | 204 | 192 |
| 3 | Ryanair | Ireland | 182 | 168 | 97 | 52 | 148 | 142 |
| 4 | United Airlines Holdings | United States | 165 | 144 | 73 | 57 | 162 | 158 |
| 5 | Southwest Airlines | United States | 137 | 157 | 123 | 67 | 162 | 163 |
| 6 | Lufthansa Group | Germany | 123 | 101 | 24 | 36 | 145 | 142 |
| 7 | Air France–KLM | France & Netherlands | 118 | 83 | | 28 #14 | | 85 #12 |
| 8 | IAG | UK & Spain | 115 | 95 | 31 #12 | 118 | 112 | |
| 9 | IndiGo | India | 105 | 75 | 48 | 35 #11 | | 61 #16 |
| 10 | Turkish Airlines | Turkey | 83 | 72 | 45 | 28 #17= | | 75 #14 |
| Sources | Sources | Sources | | | | | | |

### Scheduled Freight (millions of CTK)

| Rank | Airline | Country | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
| 1 | FedEx Express | United States | 17,923 | 19,547 | 20,660 | 19,656 | 17,503 | 17,499 |
| 2 | Qatar Airways Cargo | Qatar | 14,406 | 14,267 | 16,102 | 13,740 | 13,024 | 12,695 |
| 3 | UPS Airlines | United States | 14,239 | 15,889 | 15,529 | 14,371 | 12,842 | 12,459 |
| 4 | Emirates SkyCargo | United Arab Emirates | 10,636 | 10,153 | 11,842 | 9,569 | 12,052 | 12,713 |
| 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 |
| 7 | Turkish Cargo | Turkey | 8,325 | 8,318 | 9,223 | 6,977 | 7,029 | 5,890 |
| 8 | Cathay Cargo | Hong Kong | 8,099 | 5,774 #13 | 8,215 | 8,137 | 10,930 | 11,284 |
| 9 | China Southern Airlines Cargo | China | 7,610 | 6,915 | 8,078 | 6,591 | 6,825 | 6,597 |
| 10 | Cargolux | Luxembourg | 6,807 | 7,971 | 8,587 | 7,345 | 7,180 | 7,322 |

## Fleet Size
### Aircraft operated (March 2025)

| Rank | Airline | Country | No. |
| 1 | United Airlines | United States | 1010 |
| 2 | Delta Air Lines | United States | 987 |
| 3 | American Airlines | United States | 982 |
| 4 | Air China | China | 907 |
| 5 | Southwest Airlines | United States | 797 |
| 6 | China Southern Airlines | China | 653 |
| 7 | China Eastern Airlines | China | 652 |
| 8 | SkyWest Airlines | United States | 624 |
| 9 | Ryanair | Ireland | 607 |
| 10 | Lufthansa | Germany | 514 |

### Aircraft owned (January 2025)

| Rank | Holding company | No. | Value ($bn) |
| 1 | United Airlines Holdings | 1,007 | 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 |

## Network
### Countries served (August 2024)

| Rank | Airline | Country | No. |
| 1 | Turkish Airlines | Turkey | 122 |
| 2 | Qatar Airways | Qatar | 88 |
| 3 | Ethiopian Airlines | Ethiopia | 86 |
| 4 | Air France | France | 84 |
| 5 | Emirates | United Arab Emirates | 80 |
| =6 | British Airways | United Kingdom | 76 |
| =6 | Lufthansa | Germany | 76 |
| 8 | United Airlines | United States | 75 |
| 9 | KLM | Netherlands | 64 |
| 10 | American Airlines | United States | 61 |

### Passenger Destinations served (January 2025)

| Rank | Airline | Country | No. |
| 1 | United Airlines | United States | 374 |
| 2 | American Airlines | United States | 355 |
| 3 | Delta Air Lines | United States | 311 |
| 4 | Turkish Airlines | Turkey | 287 |
| 5 | Ryanair | Ireland | 239 |
| 6 | China Southern Airlines | China | 238 |
| 7 | China Eastern Airlines | China | 224 |
| 8 | Air France | France | 216 |
| 8 | Lufthansa | Germany | 216 |
| 8 | British Airways | United Kingdom | 216 |

### Routes served (February 2024)

| Rank | Airline | Country | No. |
| 1 | Southwest Airlines | United States | 3,161 |
| 2 | Ryanair | Ireland | 2,631 |
| 3 | American Airlines | United States | 1,237 |
| 4 | China Eastern Airlines | China | 1,051 |
| 5 | United Airlines | United States | 1,033 |
| 6 | Delta Air Lines | United States | 975 |
| 7 | China Southern Airlines | China | 963 |
| 8 | Air China | China | 641 |
| 9 | IndiGo | India | 610 |
| 10 | Turkish Airlines | Turkey | 531 |

### Daily Flights (March 2025)

| Rank | Airline | Country | No. |
| 1 | American Airlines | United States | 5,946 |
| 2 | Delta Air Lines | United States | 4,343 |
| 3 | United Airlines | United States | 4,167 |
| 4 | Southwest Airlines | United States | 3,592 |
| 5 | Ryanair | Ireland | 2,584 |
| 6 | China Eastern Airlines | China | 2,506 |
| 7 | IndiGo | India | 2,244 |
| 8 | China Southern Airlines | China | 2,125 |
| 9 | Air China | China | 1,659 |
| 10 | easyJet | United Kingdom | 1,298 |