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The world's largest airlines can be defined in several ways.American Airlines Group is the largest by its fleet size, revenue, passengers carried and revenue passenger mile. Delta Air Lines is the largest by assets value and market capitalization, while Southwest Airlines leads by profit. Lufthansa Group is the largest by number of employees, FedEx Express by freight tonne-kilometers, Turkish Airlines by number of countries served and UPS Airlines by number of destinations served (or United Airlines when excluding freight-only carriers).
By revenue[edit]
American Airlines is the largest by fleet size, revenue, passengers carried and RPK
Lufthansa is the largest by number of employees
| Rank | Airline | Country | Revenue | Profit | Assets | Market cap. | Employees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (US$ billions) | |||||||
| 1 | American Airlines Group | United States | 43.0 | 1.9 | 53.3 | 19.9 | 126,600 |
| 2 | Delta Air Lines | United States | 42.1 | 3.5 | 54.1 | 37.1 | 87,000 |
| 3 | Lufthansa | Germany | 41.5 | 2.8 | 47.1 | 14.1 | 129,424 |
| 4 | United Airlines | United States | 38.3 | 2.2 | 44.0 | 18.6 | 89,800 |
| 5 | Air France–KLM | France/Netherlands | 29.1 | -0.3 | 29.3 | 3.8 | 83,522 |
| 6 | IAG | Spain/UK | 26.0 | 2.3 | 32.7 | 19.4 | 63,994 |
| 7 | Southwest Airlines | United States | 21.2 | 3.6 | 25.5 | 30.4 | 56,100 |
| 8 | China Southern Airlines | China | 19.7 | 1.0 | 35.0 | 14.6 | 96,234 |
| 9 | All Nippon Airways | Japan | 17.8 | 1.3 | 24.1 | 12.8 | 33,719 |
| 10 | China Eastern Airlines | China | 15.7 | 0.8 | 36.2 | 15.5 | 75,277 |
Note that Emirates is a government-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[edit]
| Rank | Airline | Country | 2017[2] | 2016[3] | 2015[4] | 2014[5] | 2013[6] | 2012[7] | 2011[8] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | American Airlines Group | United States | 199.6 | 198.7 | 146.53 | 87.83 | 86.823 | 86.335 | 86.042 |
| 2 | Delta Air Lines | United States | 186.4 | 183.7 | 138.842 | 129.433 | 120.636 | 116.726 | 113.731 |
| 3 | Southwest Airlines | United States | 157.8 | 151.8 | 144.575 | 129.087 | 115.323 | 112.234 | 110.587 |
| 4 | United Airlines | United States | 148.1 | 143.2 | 95.384 | 90.439 | 90.161 | 92.619 | 50.473 |
| 5 | Ryanair | Ireland | 130.3 | 119.8 | 101.401 | 86.370 | 81.395 | 79.649 | 76.422 |
| 6 | Lufthansa Group | Germany | 130.0 | 62.4 | 59.850 | 63.273 | 64.393 | 63.012 | |
| 7 | China Southern Airlines | China | 126.3 | 84.9 | 109.301 | 100.683 | 91.504 | 86.277 | 80.545 |
| 8 | China Eastern Airlines | China | 110.8 | 80.9 | 75.139 | 66.174 | 62.653 | 79.611 | |
| 9 | IAG | Spain/UK | 104.8 | ||||||
| 10 | Air China Group | China | 101.6 |
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)[edit]
| Rank | Group | Country | 2017[2] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | 252,819 |
| 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 |
World Air Transport Statistics
| Rank | Airline | Country | 2018 [citation needed] | 2016[9] | 2015[10] | 2014[11] | 2013[12] | 2012[13] | 2011[14] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 ton-kilometers (millions)[edit]
FedEx Express is the largest by freight tonne-kilometers
| Rank | Airline | Country | 2018 [citation needed] | 2017 [citation needed] | 2016[9] | 2015[10] | 2014[15] | 2013[16] | 2012[17] | 2011[18] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FedEx Express | United States | 17,499 | 16,851 | 15,712 | 15,799 | 16,020 | 16,127 | 16,108 | 15,939 |
| 2 | Emirates SkyCargo | United Arab Emirates | 12,713 | 12,715 | 12,270 | 12,157 | 11,240 | 10,459 | 9,319 | 8,132 |
| 3 | Qatar Airways Cargo | Qatar | 12,695 | 10,999 | 9,221 | 7,660 | 5,997 | 4,972 | ||
| 4 | UPS Airlines | United States | 12,459 | 11,940 | 11,264 | 10,807 | 10,936 | 10,584 | 10,416 | 10,566 |
| 5 | Cathay Pacific Cargo | Hong Kong | 11,284 | 10,772 | 9,947 | 9,935 | 9,464 | 8,241 | 8,433 | 9,109 |
| 6 | Korean Air Cargo | South Korea | 7,839 | 8,015 | 7,666 | 7,761 | 8,079 | 7,666 | 8,144 | 8,974 |
| 7 | Lufthansa Cargo | Germany | 7,394 | 7,317 | 7,384 | 6,888 | 7,054 | 7,218 | 7,175 | 7,674 |
| 8 | Cargolux | Luxembourg | 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 | 6,597 | |||||||
| Singapore Airlines Cargo | Singapore | 6,592 | 6,345 | 6,083 | 6,019 | 6,240 | 6,694 | 7,118 |
By fleet size[edit]
Delta Air Lines is the largest by assets value and market capitalization
| Rank | Airline | Country | Fleet | Widebody | Narrowbody | Regional aircraft |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | American Airlines | United States | 957 | 155 | 782 | 20 |
| 2 | Delta Air Lines | United States | 880 | 151 | 729 | |
| 3 | United Airlines | United States | 777 | 191 | 586 | |
| 4 | Southwest Airlines | United States | 753 | 753 | ||
| 5 | China Southern Airlines | China | 603 | 97 | 463 | 19 |
| 6 | China Eastern Airlines | China | 607 | 91 | 513 | 3 |
| 7 | SkyWest | United States | 486 | 486 | ||
| 8 | Ryanair | Ireland | 456 | 456 | ||
| 9 | Air China | China | 439 | 130 | 306 | |
| 10 | FedEx Express | United States | 378 | 267 | 111 | |
| 11 | Lufthansa | Germany | 360 | 115 | 198 | 47 |
| 12 | Turkish Airlines | Turkey | 332 | 107 | 225 |
Iata World Air Transport Statistics
By number of countries served[edit]
Turkish Airlines is the largest airline by number of countries served.
| Rank | Airline | Country | Countries served (S1 2019)[20] [clarification needed] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | |
| 10 | Aeroflot | Russia | 58 |
By number of routes[edit]
| Rank | Airline | Country | Routes served (S1 2019)[20] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | China | 667 |
| 7 | China Eastern | China | 648 |
| 8 | Wizz Air | Hungary | 615 |
| 9 | Air China | China | 470 |
| 10 | TUI Airways | United Kingdom | 470 |
By number of destinations[edit]
UPS Airlines serves the most destinations
| Rank | Airline | Country | Destinations (Dec. 2017) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | UPS Airlines | United States | 727 |
| 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[edit]
| 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 Airlines | 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[edit]
References[edit]
- ^'The World's Largest Public Companies'. Forbes. 2018.
- ^ ab'World Airline Rankings'. Flight Global. 2018.
- ^'World Airline Rankings'. Flight Global. 2017.
- ^'Global Air Traffic & Top Airlines 2016 (IATA)'. IMM International. 28 June 2016.
- ^'Scheduled Passengers Carried'. World Air Transport Statistics 59th Edition. IATA. Archived from the original on June 18, 2015.
- ^'Scheduled Passengers Carried'. World Air Transport Statistics 58th Edition. IATA. Archived from the original on January 2, 2015.
- ^'Scheduled Passengers Carried'. World Air Transport Statistics 57th Edition. IATA. Archived from the original on November 13, 2013.
- ^'Scheduled Passengers Carried'. World Air Transport Statistics 56th Edition. IATA. Archived from the original on December 17, 2012.
- ^ ab'Summary of passenger and freight traffic'(PDF). World Air Transport Statistics. IATA. 2017.
- ^ ab'Summary of passenger and freight traffic'(PDF). World Air Transport Statistics. IATA. 2016.
- ^'Scheduled Passenger - Kilometres Flown'. World Air Transport Statistics 59th Edition. IATA. Archived from the original on July 6, 2015.
- ^'Scheduled Passenger - Kilometres Flown'. World Air Transport Statistics 58th Edition. IATA. Archived from the original on November 11, 2014.
- ^'Scheduled Passenger - Kilometres Flown'. World Air Transport Statistics 57th Edition. IATA. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013.
- ^'Scheduled Passenger - Kilometres Flown'. World Air Transport Statistics 56th Edition. IATA. Archived from the original on December 16, 2012.
- ^'Scheduled Freight Tonne - Kilometres'. World Air Transport Statistics 59th Edition. IATA. Archived from the original on July 4, 2015.
- ^'Scheduled Freight Tonne - Kilometres'. World Air Transport Statistics 58th Edition. IATA. Archived from the original on November 25, 2014.
- ^'Scheduled Freight Tonne - Kilometres'. World Air Transport Statistics 57th Edition. IATA. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013.
- ^'Scheduled Freight Tonne - Kilometres'. World Air Transport Statistics 56th Edition. IATA. Archived from the original on December 15, 2012.
- ^'World Airline Fleets'. Air Transport World. July 2019. p. 45-55.
- ^ ab'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.
- ^'Top 10 World's Largest Airlines'. AirportSpotting. 8 December 2017.
- ^'American Airlines Tops The World's Most Valuable Airlines List in 2018'. Airways International. April 26, 2018.
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Ranking of the most efficient countries in air transport services in 2018
The statistic shows the most efficient countries in air transport services in 2018. In that year, Germany received a rating of 5.6 on a scale from 1 (= extremely inefficient) to 7 (= extremely efficient).
Show moreRanking of the most efficient countries in air transport services in 2018
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