Largest airlines in the world

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

2025 Rank[8] Airline Group Country Revenue
(US$ bn)
1 Delta Air Lines United States 63.3
2 United Airlines United States 59.0
3 American Airlines Group United States 54.6
4 Lufthansa Group Germany 45.7
5 International Airlines Group United Kingdom/ Spain 38.3
6 Air France–KLM France/ 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

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. Qatar Airways Group is similarly privately held with its 2024 revenue of around $22.2B (with Emirates included).

Earnings

2025 Rank[9] Airline Group Country Earnings
(US$ bn)
1 Delta Air Lines United States 6.8
2 United Airlines United States 5.4
3 International Airlines Group United Kingdom/ Spain 5.2
4 Lufthansa Group Germany 2.9
5 Ryanair Group Ireland 2.9
6 Singapore Airlines Singapore 2.2
7 LATAM Airlines Chile 2.2
8 American Airlines Group United States 1.9
9 Air France–KLM France/ Netherlands 1.7
10 Qantas Australia 1.6

Market capitalization (April 2026)

Rank[10] Airline Group Country Market cap
(US$ bn)
1 Delta Air Lines United States 47.1
2 United Airlines United States 33.0
3 Ryanair Group Ireland 32.3
4 International Airlines Group United 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

Brand value

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%

Capacity

Airlines by available seat miles (ASMs)

Numbers are listed in billions of available seat miles.

Rank Airline Country 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 Ref
1 United Airlines United States 330 311 291 248 179 123 285 [12]
2 American Airlines United States 299 293 278 260 215 143 285 [13]
3 Delta Air Lines United States 298 288 272 233 194 134 275 [14]
4 Emirates United Arab Emirates 222 230 177 99 40 228 [15]
5 Southwest Airlines United States 180 178 170 148 132 103 157 [16]
6 Qatar Airways Qatar 159 157 131 100 58 149 [17]
7 Ryanair Ireland 159 152 138 91 30 118 [18]
8 China Southern Airlines China 151 197 96 133 134 214 [19]
9 Turkish Airlines Turkey 145 146 124 80 47 117 [20]
10 China Eastern Airlines China 138 114 60 100 95 168 [21]

Airline groups by available seat kilometers (ASKs)

Numbers are listed in billions of ASKs.

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 United Kingdom/ 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 [22] [23][24] [25] [26]

Airline groups by passengers (millions)

Rank Airline Group Country 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018
1 American Airlines Group United States 225 211 199 124 95 215 203
2 Delta Air Lines United States 200 190 175 123 80 204 192
3 Ryanair Ireland 183.7 182 168 97 52 148 142
4 United Airlines Holdings United States 174 165 144 73 57 162 158
5 Southwest Airlines United States 140 137 157 123 67 162 163
6 Lufthansa Group Germany 131 123 101 24 36 145 142
7 International Airlines Group United Kingdom/ Spain 122 115 95 31
#12		 118 112
8 IndiGo India 118.6 105 75 48 35
#11		 61
#16
9 Air France–KLM France/ Netherlands 98 118 83 28
#14		 85
#12
10 Turkish Airlines Turkey 83.4 83 72 45 28
#17=		 75
#14
Sources [22] [27] [25] [28] [29]

Freight (millions of CTK)

For broader coverage of this topic, see Cargo airline.
FedEx Express is the largest by freight tonne-kilometers.
Rank[30] Airline Country / Region 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018
1 FedEx Express United States 18,133 17,923 19,547 20,660 19,656 17,503 17,499
2 Qatar Airways Cargo Qatar 15,211 14,406 14,267 16,102 13,740 13,024 12,695
3 UPS Airlines United States 15,094 14,239 15,889 15,529 14,371 12,842 12,459
4 Emirates SkyCargo United Arab Emirates 12,354 10,636 10,153 11,842 9,569 12,052 12,713
5 Atlas Air United States 11,942 8,915 8,675 8,441 5,458 #12 4,522 #16 4,553 #16
6 Turkish Cargo Turkey 10,240 8,325 8,318 9,223 6,977 7,029 5,890
7 Korean Air Cargo South Korea 8,728 8,411 9,518 10,429 8,104 7,412 7,839
8 China Southern Airlines Cargo China 8,653 7,610 6,915 8,078 6,591 6,825 6,597
9 Cathay Cargo Hong Kong 8,503 8,099 5,774 #13 8,215 8,137 10,930 11,284
10 Cargolux Luxembourg 8,263 6,807 7,971 8,587 7,345 7,180 7,322

Fleet size

Aircraft operated (February 2026)

United Airlines operates the largest number of aircraft, as of September 2025.
Rank Airline Country No. Ref.
1 United Airlines United States 1,061 [31]
2 American Airlines United States 1,005 [14]
3 Delta Air Lines United States 992 [32]
4 China Southern Airlines China 850 [33]
5 Southwest Airlines United States 810 [16]
6 China Eastern Airlines China 664 [34]
7 Ryanair Ireland 643 [35]
8 SkyWest Airlines United States 579 [36]
9 Turkish Airlines Turkey 522 [37]
10 Air China China 510 [38]


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.
Rank[39] 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

Network

Destinations served (April 2026)

United Airlines serves the largest number of destinations, as of February 2024.
Rank Airline Country No.
1 United Airlines United States 392[40]
2 American Airlines United States 367[41]
3 Delta Air Lines United States 315[42]
4 Turkish Airlines Turkey 290[43]
5 China Southern Airlines China 226[44]
6 China Eastern Airlines China 225[45]
7 Ryanair Ireland 223[46]
8 Air China China 213[47]
British Airways United Kingdom 213[48]
10 Air Canada Canada 204[49]

Countries served (April 2026)

Turkish Airlines serves the largest number of countries, as of June 2025.
Rank Airline Country No. Ref.
1 Turkish Airlines Turkey 129 [43]
2 Air France France 88 [50]
3 Qatar Airways Qatar 86 [51]
4 Ethiopian Airlines Ethiopia 83 [52]
5 British Airways United Kingdom 80 [48]
Emirates United Arab Emirates 77 [53]
8 United Airlines United States 74 [40]
7 Lufthansa Germany 72 [54]
9 KLM Netherlands 66 [55]
10 American Airlines United States 64 [41]
Delta Air Lines United States 64 [42]

Flights daily (March 2025)

Rank[56] 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

Routes served (April 2026)

Southwest Airlines serves the largest number of routes, as of February 2024.
Rank Airline Country No. Ref.
1 Southwest Airlines United States 2,509 [57]
2 Ryanair[a] Ireland 2,496 [58]
3 American Airlines United States 1,391 [59]
4 United Airlines United States 1,148 [60]
5 Delta Air Lines United States 1,095 [61]
6 easyJet United Kingdom 1,207 [62]
7 Wizz Air Hungary 1,018 [63]
8 China Eastern Airlines China 923 [64]
9 China Southern Airlines China 780 [65]
10 IndiGo India 730 [66]

Notes

  1. ^ excluding Ryanair UK

See also

References

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