Largest airlines in the world

Revenue

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	53.99	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	92,800
4	Lufthansa Group	Germany	35.8	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	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 29.2 billion USD, which would have had placed the company into 6th place. 2021's over 18 billion USD and 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 with 2023 revenue of nearly 21 billions USD placing it into the 9th place (with Emirates included) above the Turkish Airlines.

Brand value

Largest airlines by brand value (US$ billions) according to Brand Finance (2023)^[2]

Rank	Airline	Country	$bn	Year-to-year change
1	Delta Air Lines	United States	8.922	+21.8%
2	American Airlines	United States	8.488	+35.5%
3	United Airlines	United States	7.782	+41.9%
4	Emirates	United Arab Emirates	5.104	+2.4%
5	Southwest Airlines	United States	4.703	−4.6%
6	China Southern Airlines	China	3.229	+39.5%
7	China Eastern Airlines	China	2.852	+25.7%
8	Air China	China	2.603	+9.3%
9	Air Canada	Canada	2.584	+2.9%
10	Qatar Airways	Qatar	2.470	+22.6%

Passengers carried

Millions of passengers carried

Rank	Airline Group	Country	2022[3][4]	2020[5]	2019[6]	2018[7]	2017[8]	2016[9]	2015[10]	2014[11]	2013[12]	2012[13]	2011[14]
1	American Airlines Group	United States	199.3	95.3	215.2	203.7	199.6	198.7	146.53	87.83	86.823	86.335	86.042
2	Delta Air Lines Group	United States	175.0	80.0	204.0	192.5	186.4	183.7	138.842	129.433	120.636	116.726	113.731
3	Ryanair	Ireland	168.6	52.4	148.6	142.1	130.3	119.8	101.401	86.370	81.395	79.649	76.422
4	Southwest Airlines	United States	157.0	67.8	162.7	163.6	157.8	151.8	144.575	129.087	115.323	112.234	110.587
5	United Airlines Holdings	United States	144.3	57.8	162.4	158.3	148.1	143.2	95.384	90.439	90.161	92.619	50.473
6	Lufthansa Group	Germany	101.8	36.4	145.2	142.3	130.0	117.4	115.2	112.5	110.4	108.9	112.0
7	IAG	Spain	94.7	31.3 #12	118.3	112.9	104.83	100.7	94.9	77.3	67.2	54.6	51.7
8	Air France–KLM	France/  Netherlands	83.3	28.9 #14		85.6 #12
9	IndiGo	India	75.3	35.0 #11		61.9 #16
10	Turkish Airlines	Turkey	71.8	28.0 #17=		75.2 #14
	China Southern Air Holding	China	62.6 #12	96.9	151.6	139.9	126.3	84.9	109.301	100.683	91.504	86.277	80.545
	China Eastern Air Holding	China	42.5 #17	74.5	130.2	121.1	110.8	80.9	75.139	66.174	62.653	79.61	73.1
	Air China Group	China	38.6 #24	68.7	115.0	109.7	101.6	96.5	89.8	83.0	77.7	72.4	69.4
	Hainan Airlines Group	China	21.0 #39	37		79.9 #13

Scheduled passenger-kilometers flown (millions)

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.

Scheduled freight tonne-kilometers (millions)

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

Aircraft operated

April 2024^[36]

Rank	Airline	Country	No.	Ref.
1	Delta Air Lines[a]	United States	987	[37]
2	American Airlines[a]	United States	967	[38]
3	United Airlines[a]	United States	953	[39]
4	Southwest Airlines	United States	815	[40]
5	China Southern Airlines	China	664	[41]
6	China Eastern Airlines	China	624	[42]
7	SkyWest Airlines[b]	United States	572	[43]
8	FedEx Express[c]	United States	498	[44]
9	Air China	China	494	[45]
10	IndiGo	India	369	[46]

Aircraft owned

July 2023^[47]

Rank	Holding company	No.	Value ($bn)
1 (tie)	American Airlines Group	854	16.7
1 (tie)	Delta Air Lines, Inc.	854	15.8
3	United Airlines Holdings	764	17.9
4	Southwest Airlines	759	16.8
5	China Eastern Airlines	583	18.5
6	Air China Group	580	19.0
7	China Southern Airlines	545	17.3
8	Ryanair Holdings	529	15.3
9	SkyWest, Inc.	520	4.5
10	Lufthansa Group	514	11.7

Aircraft capacity

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

Countries served

February 2024^{[citation needed]}

Rank	Airline	Country	No.	Ref.
1	Turkish Airlines	Turkey	119	[49]
2	Qatar Airways	Qatar	88	[50]
=3	Air France	France	84	[51]
=3	Ethiopian Airlines	Ethiopia	84	[52]
5	Emirates	United Arab Emirates	79	[53]
6	British Airways	United Kingdom	78	[54]
7	Lufthansa	Germany	77	[55]
8	United Airlines	United States	71	[56]
9	KLM	Netherlands	64	[57]
10	American Airlines	United States	63	[58]

Destinations served

February 2024^{[citation needed]}

Rank	Airline	Country	No.	Ref.
1	United Airlines	United States	357	[56]
2	American Airlines	United States	352	[58]
3	Delta Air Lines	United States	310	[59]
4	Turkish Airlines	Turkey	286	[49]
5	China Southern Airlines	China	238	[60]
6	Ryanair	Ireland	235	[61]
7	Lufthansa	Germany	226	[54]
8	China Eastern Airlines	China	225	[62]
9	British Airways	United Kingdom	208	[55]
10	Air France	France	202	[51]

Routes served

February 2024^{[citation needed]}

Rank	Airline	Country	No.	Ref.
1	Southwest Airlines	United States	3,161	[63]
2	Ryanair	Ireland	2,631	[61]
3	American Airlines	United States	1,237	[58]
4	China Eastern Airlines	China	1,051	[62]
5	United Airlines	United States	1,033	[56]
6	Delta Air Lines	United States	975	[59]
7	China Southern Airlines	China	963	[60]
8	Air China	China	641	[64]
9	IndiGo	India	610	[65]
10	Turkish Airlines	Turkey	531	[49]