Largest airlines in the world

Largest public owned airlines in the world From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The largest airline in the world can be measured in several ways. As of 2024, United Airlines was the largest in terms of available seat miles (ASM),[1] revenue seat miles (RPM),[2] mainline fleet size,[3] the number of both mainline employees[4] and destinations served;[5] Delta Air Lines was the most valuable by revenue, assets, market capitalization, and brand value;[6] 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.[7]

Financials

Delta Air Lines ranks first by revenue, net income, total assets, market capitalization and brand value.
United Airlines ranks first in ASM, RPM, fleet size and number of both destinations and employees.
American Airlines Group ranks first by number of passengers carried.

Revenue

More information 2025 rank, Airline group ...
2025 rank[8] Airline group Country Revenue
(in US$ billion)
1 Delta Air LinesUnited States 63.3
2 United AirlinesUnited States 59.0
3 American Airlines GroupUnited States 54.6
4 Lufthansa GroupGermany 45.7
5 International Airlines GroupUnited Kingdom / Spain 38.3
6 Air France–KLMFrance / Netherlands 35.5
7 Southwest Airlines United States 28.0
8 China Southern Airlines China 24.4
9 Air China China 23.4
10 China Eastern Airlines China 18.7
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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 $37.4 billion. Qatar Airways is privately held with its 2024 revenue of around $22.2 billion.[citation needed]

Earnings

More information 2025 Rank, Airline Group ...
2025 Rank[9] Airline Group Country Earnings
(US$ billion)
1 Delta Air LinesUnited States 6.8
2 United AirlinesUnited States 5.4
3 International Airlines GroupUnited Kingdom / Spain 5.2
4 Lufthansa GroupGermany 2.9
5 Ryanair Group Ireland 2.9
6 Singapore Airlines Singapore 2.2
7 LATAM Airlines Chile 2.2
8 American Airlines GroupUnited States 1.9
9 Air France–KLMFrance / The Netherlands 1.7
10 QantasAustralia 1.6
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Market capitalization (April 2026)

More information Rank, Airline Group ...
Rank[10] Airline Group Country Market cap
(US$ billion)
1 Delta Air LinesUnited States 47.1
2 United AirlinesUnited States 33.0
3 Ryanair Group Ireland 32.3
4 International Airlines GroupUnited Kingdom/Spain 24.3
5 Southwest Airlines United States 20.9
6 IndiGo India 19.3
7 Air China China 17.7
8 Singapore Airlines Singapore 16.2
9 LATAM Airlines Chile 16.2
10 China Southern Airlines China 15.1
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Brand value

More information 2025 Rank, Airline ...
2025 Rank[11] Airline Country $bn Year-to-year
change
1 Steady Delta Air Lines United States 14.9 +38.3%
2 Rise United Airlines United States 12.3 +41.8%
3 Fall American Airlines United States 11.7 +14.2%
4 Steady Emirates United Arab Emirates 8.4 +27.1%
5 Steady Southwest Airlines United States 6.3 +16.8%
6 Steady British Airways United Kingdom 4.6 +44.9%
7 Rise China Southern Airlines China 4.1 +48.2%
8 Fall Qatar Airways Qatar 3.9 +24.3%
9 Fall Air Canada Canada 3.26 +14.1%
10 Steady China Eastern Airlines China 3.2 +26.0%
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Capacity

Airlines by available seat miles (ASMs)

Numbers are listed in billions of available seat miles.

More information Rank, Airline ...
Rank Airline Country 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 Ref
1 United AirlinesUnited States 330 311291248179123285[12]
2 American AirlinesUnited States 299 293278260215143285[13]
3 Delta Air LinesUnited States 298 288272233194134275[14]
4 EmiratesUnited Arab Emirates 2222301779940228[15]
5 Southwest AirlinesUnited States 180 178170148132103157[16]
6 Qatar AirwaysQatar 15915713110058149[17]
7 RyanairIreland 1591521389130118[18]
8 China Southern AirlinesChina 15119796133134214[19]
9 Turkish AirlinesTurkey 1451461248047117[20]
10 China Eastern AirlinesChina 1381146010095168[21]
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Airline groups by available seat kilometers (ASKs)

Numbers are listed in billions of ASKs.

More information Rank, Airline Group ...
Rank Airline Group Country 2022 2021 2020 2019
1 American Airlines GroupUnited States347259147388
2 United Airlines HoldingsUnited States332207118385
3 Delta Air Lines GroupUnited States314216118382
4 Air France–KLMFrance / The Netherlands23711681275
5 EmiratesUnited Arab Emirates22593
#11		78298
6 International Airlines GroupUnited Kingdom / Spain21578
#15		72285
7 Lufthansa GroupGermany20789
#13		69296
8 Southwest AirlinesUnited States19916687211
#11
9 Turkish AirlinesTurkey16286
#14		153
#15
10 Qatar AirwaysQatar154172
#13
Sources [22] [23][24] [25] [26]
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Airline groups by passengers (millions)

More information Rank, Airline Group ...
Rank Airline Group Country 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018
1 American Airlines Group United States 22521119912495215203
2 Delta Air Lines United States 20019017512380204192
3 Ryanair Holdings Ireland 183.71821689752148142
4 United Airlines United States 1741651447357162158
5 Southwest Airlines United States 14013715712367162163
6 Lufthansa Group Germany 1311231012436145142
7 International Airlines Group United Kingdom / Spain 1221159531
#12		118112
8 IndiGo India 118.6105754835
#11		61
#16
9 Air France–KLM France / Netherlands 981188328
#14		85
#12
10 Turkish Airlines Turkey 83.483724528
#17=		75
#14
Sources [citation needed] [22] [27] [25] [28] [29] [citation needed]
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Freight (millions of CTK)

For broader coverage of this topic, see Cargo airline.
FedEx Express is the largest by freight tonne-kilometers.
More information Rank, Airline ...
Rank[30] Airline Country / Region 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018
1 FedEx Express United States 18,13317,92319,54720,66019,65617,50317,499
2 Qatar Airways Cargo Qatar 15,21114,40614,26716,10213,74013,02412,695
3 UPS Airlines United States 15,09414,23915,88915,52914,37112,84212,459
4 Emirates SkyCargo United Arab Emirates 12,35410,63610,15311,8429,56912,05212,713
5 Atlas Air United States 11,9428,9158,6758,4415,458 #124,522 #164,553 #16
6 Turkish Cargo Turkey 10,2408,3258,3189,2236,9777,0295,890
7 Korean Air Cargo South Korea 8,7288,4119,51810,4298,1047,4127,839
8 China Southern Airlines Cargo China 8,6537,6106,9158,0786,5916,8256,597
9 Cathay Cargo Hong Kong 8,5038,0995,774 #138,2158,13710,93011,284
10 Cargolux Luxembourg 8,2636,8077,9718,5877,3457,1807,322
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Fleet size

Aircraft operated (February 2026)

United Airlines operates the largest number of aircraft, as of September 2025.
More information Rank, Airline ...
RankAirlineCountryNo.Ref.
1 United Airlines United States 1,090 [31]
2 American Airlines United States 1,013 [32]
3 Delta Air Lines United States 989 [33]
4 China Southern Airlines China 850 [34]
5 Southwest Airlines United States 810 [16]
6 China Eastern Airlines China 664 [35]
7 Ryanair Ireland 643 [36]
8 SkyWest Airlines United States 579 [37]
9 Turkish Airlines Turkey 522 [38]
10 Air China China 510 [39]
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Aircraft owned (July 2023)

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.
More information Rank, Holding company ...
Rank[40] Holding company No. Value ($bn)
1 (tie) #52 American Airlines Group 854 #595 16.7 #14.7
1 (tie) #2 Delta Air Lines, Inc. 854 #682 15.8 #12.4
3 #1 United Airlines Holdings 764 #700 17.9 #14.0
4 #3 Southwest Airlines 759 #650 16.8 #11.4
5 #6 China Eastern Airlines 583 #501 18.5 #14.4
6 #9 Air China Group 580 #352 19.0 #11.6
7 #7 China Southern Airlines 545 #447 17.3 #14.8
8 #8 Ryanair Holdings 529 #417 15.3 #10.6
9 #5 SkyWest, Inc. 520 #511 4.5 #4.4
10 #11 Lufthansa Group 514 #268 11.7 #6.8
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Network

Destinations served (April 2026)

Main article: List of airlines with more than 100 destinations
United Airlines serves the largest number of destinations, as of February 2024.
More information Rank, Airline ...
Rank Airline Country No.
1 United Airlines United States 392[41]
2 American Airlines United States 367[42]
3 Delta Air Lines United States 315[43]
4 Turkish Airlines Turkey 290[44]
5 China Southern Airlines China 226[45]
6 China Eastern Airlines China 225[46]
7 Ryanair Ireland 223[47]
8 Air China China 213[48]
British Airways United Kingdom 213[49]
10 Air Canada Canada 204[50]
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Countries served (April 2026)

Turkish Airlines serves the largest number of countries
Main article: List of airlines by countries served
More information Rank, Airline ...
RankAirlineNumber of CountriesCountry of origin
1Turkish Airlines130[51]Turkey
2Air France94[52]France
3Qatar Airways92[53]Qatar
4Ethiopian Airlines87[54]Ethiopia
5British Airways79[55]United Kingdom
Emirates79[56]United Arab Emirates
7Lufthansa76[57]Germany
8United Airlines75[58]United States
9KLM66[59]Netherlands
10American Airlines64[60]United States
Delta Air Lines64[61]United States

Air Canada

 64[62] Canada
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Flights daily (March 2025)

More information Rank, Airline ...
Rank[63] 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
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Routes served (April 2026)

Southwest Airlines serves the largest number of routes, as of February 2024.
More information Rank, Airline ...
Rank Airline Country No. Ref.
1 Southwest Airlines United States 2,509 [64]
2 Ryanair[a] Ireland 2,496 [65]
3 American Airlines United States 1,391 [66]
4 United Airlines United States 1,148 [67]
5 Delta Air Lines United States 1,095 [68]
6 easyJet United Kingdom 1,207 [69]
7 Wizz Air Hungary 1,018 [70]
8 China Eastern Airlines China 923 [71]
9 China Southern Airlines China 780 [72]
10 IndiGo India 730 [73]
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Notes

  1. [a]
    excluding Ryanair UK

See also

References

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