The largest airline in the world can be measured in several ways. , 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.

Financials

thumb|[[Delta Air Lines ranks first by revenue, net income, total assets, market capitalization and brand value.]]

thumb|[[United Airlines ranks first in ASM, RPM, fleet size and number of both destinations and employees.]]

thumb|[[American Airlines Group ranks first by number of passengers carried.]]

Revenue

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"

|-

!2025 rank

!Airline group

!Country

!Revenue<br>(in US$ billion)

|-

! 1

| align="left" | Delta Air Lines|| style="text-align:left;" |United States

| 63.3

|-

! 2

| align="left" | United Airlines || style="text-align:left;" |United States

| 59.0

|-

! 3

| align="left" | American Airlines Group || style="text-align:left;" |United States

| 54.6

|-

! 4

| align="left" | Lufthansa Group || style="text-align:left;" |Germany

| 45.7

|-

! 5

| align="left" | International Airlines Group || style="text-align:left;" |United Kingdom / Spain

| 38.3

|-

! 6

| align="left" | Air France–KLM || style="text-align:left;" | France / Netherlands

| 35.5

|-

!7

| align="left" |Southwest Airlines

| align="left" |United States

|28.0

|-

!8

| align="left" |China Southern Airlines

| align="left" |China

|24.4

|-

!9

| align="left" |Air China

| align="left" |China

|23.4

|-

!10

| align="left" |China Eastern Airlines

| align="left" |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 $37.4&nbsp;billion. Qatar Airways is privately held with its 2024 revenue of around $22.2&nbsp;billion.

Earnings

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"

|-

!2025 Rank

!Airline Group

!Country

! Earnings<br>(US$ billion)

|-

! 1

| align="left" | Delta Air Lines|| style="text-align:left;" |United States

| 6.8

|-

! 2

| align="left" | United Airlines || style="text-align:left;" |United States

| 5.4

|-

! 3

| align="left" | International Airlines Group || style="text-align:left;" |United Kingdom / Spain

| 5.2

|-

! 4

| align="left" | Lufthansa Group || style="text-align:left;" |Germany

| 2.9

|-

!5

| align="left" |Ryanair Group

| style="text-align: left;" |Ireland

|2.9

|-

!6

| align="left" |Singapore Airlines

| style="text-align: left;" |Singapore

|2.2

|-

!7

| align="left" |LATAM Airlines

| style="text-align: left;" |Chile

|2.2

|-

! 8

| align="left" | American Airlines Group || style="text-align:left;" |United States

| 1.9

|-

! 9

| align="left" | Air France–KLM || style="text-align:left;" |France / The Netherlands

| 1.7

|-

! 10

| align="left" | Qantas || style="text-align:left;" |Australia

| 1.6

|}

Market capitalization (April 2026)

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"

|-

!Rank

!Airline Group

!Country

! Market cap<br>(US$ billion)

|-

! 1

| align="left" | Delta Air Lines|| style="text-align:left;" |United States

| 47.1

|-

! 2

| align="left" | United Airlines || style="text-align:left;" |United States

| 33.0

|-

!3

| align="left" |Ryanair Group

| style="text-align: left;" |Ireland

|32.3

|-

! 4

| align="left" | International Airlines Group || style="text-align:left;" |United Kingdom/Spain

| 24.3

|-

!5

| align="left" |Southwest Airlines

| align="left" |United States

|20.9

|-

!6

| align="left" |IndiGo

| align="left" |India

|19.3

|-

!7

| align="left" |Air China

| style="text-align: left;" |China

|17.7

|-

!8

| align="left" |Singapore Airlines

| style="text-align: left;" |Singapore

|16.2

|-

!9

| align="left" |LATAM Airlines

| style="text-align: left;" |Chile

|16.2

|-

!10

| align="left" |China Southern Airlines

| style="text-align: left;" |China

|15.1

|}

Brand value

<!--thumb|Delta Air Lines is the largest airline in the world by brand value.-->

{| class="wikitable sortable col1center col2left col4right col5right col6right"

! 2025 Rank

! Airline

! Country

! $bn

! Year-to-year<br />change

|-

! 1

| Delta Air Lines

| United States

! 14.9

|

|-

! 2

| United Airlines

| United States

!12.3

|

|-

! 3

| American Airlines

| United States

! 11.7

|

|-

! 4

| Emirates

| United Arab Emirates

! 8.4

|

|-

! 5

| Southwest Airlines

| United States

! 6.3

|

|-

! 6

| British Airways

| United Kingdom

! 4.6

|

|-

! 7

| China Southern Airlines

| China

! 4.1

|

|-

! 8

| Qatar Airways

| Qatar

! 3.9

|

|-

! 9

| Air Canada

| Canada

! 3.26

|

|-

! 10

| China Eastern Airlines

| China

! 3.2

|

|}

Capacity

Airlines by available seat miles (ASMs)

Numbers are listed in billions of available seat miles.

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|-

!class="unsortable"| Rank

! Airline

! Country

! 2025

! 2024

! 2023

! 2022

! 2021

! 2020

! 2019

! Ref

|-

!1

| United Airlines || United States

! 330

|311 || 291 || 248 || 179 || 123 || 285 ||

|-

!2

| American Airlines || United States

! 299

| 293 || 278 || 260 || 215 || 143 || 285 ||

|-

!3

| Delta Air Lines || United States

! 298

| 288 || 272 || 233 || 194 || 134 || 275 ||

|-

!4

| Emirates || United Arab Emirates

!

| 222 || 230 || 177 || 99 || 40 || 228 ||

|-

!5

| Southwest Airlines || United States

! 180

| 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 by passengers (millions)

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"

|-

! class="unsortable" | Rank

!Airline Group

!Country

!2024

!2023

!2022

!2021

!2020

!2019

|-

!1

| style="text-align:left;" | American Airlines Group

| style="text-align:left;" |United States

| 225 || 211 || 199 || 124 || 95 || 215

|-

!2

| style="text-align:left;" | Delta Air Lines

| style="text-align:left;" |United States

| 200 || 190 || 175 || 123 || 80 || 204

|-

!3

| style="text-align:left;" | Ryanair Holdings

| style="text-align:left;" |Ireland

| 184 || 182 || 168 || 97 || 52 || 148

|-

!4

| style="text-align:left;" | United Airlines

| style="text-align:left;" |United States

| 174 || 165 || 144 || 73 || 57 || 162

|-

!5

| style="text-align:left;" | Southwest Airlines

| style="text-align:left;" |United States

| 140 || 137 || 157 || 123 || 67 || 162

|-

!6

| style="text-align:left;" | Lufthansa Group

| style="text-align:left;" |Germany

| 131 || 123 || 101 || 24 || 36 || 145

|-

!7

| style="text-align:left;" | International Airlines Group

| style="text-align:left;" | United Kingdom / Spain

| 122 || 115 || 95 ||31<br /> || 118 || 112

|-

!8

| style="text-align:left;" | IndiGo

| style="text-align:left;" |India

| 119 || 105 || 75 || 48 || 35<br /> ||

|-

!9

| style="text-align:left;" | Air France–KLM

| style="text-align:left;" |France / Netherlands

| 98 || 118 || 83 || || 28<br /> ||

|-

!10

| style="text-align:left;" | Turkish Airlines

| style="text-align:left;" |Turkey

| 83 || 83 || 72 || 45 || 28<br /> ||

|-

! colspan="3" |<small>Sources</small>

|

|

|

|

|

|

|}

Freight (millions of CTK)

<!-- Ten columns for years -->thumb|[[FedEx Express is the largest by freight tonne-kilometers.]]

{|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:right;"

|-

!class="unsortable"| Rank

! Airline

!Country / Region

!2024

!2023

!2022

!2021

!2020

!2019

!2018

|-

! 1

| style="text-align:left;" | FedEx Express

| style="text-align:left;" | United States

|18,133 || 17,923 ||19,547 ||20,660 ||19,656 ||17,503 || 17,499

|-

! 2

| style="text-align:left;" | Qatar Airways Cargo

| style="text-align:left;" | Qatar

|15,211 || 14,406 ||14,267 || 16,102 || 13,740 || 13,024 || 12,695

|-

! 3

| style="text-align:left;" | UPS Airlines

| style="text-align:left;" | United States

|15,094 || 14,239 ||15,889 || 15,529 || 14,371 || 12,842 || 12,459

|-

! 4

| style="text-align:left;" | Emirates SkyCargo

| style="text-align:left;" | United Arab Emirates

|12,354 || 10,636 ||10,153 || 11,842 || 9,569 || 12,052 || 12,713

|-

! 5

| style="text-align:left;" | Atlas Air

| style="text-align:left;" | United States

|11,942 || 8,915 ||8,675 || 8,441 || 5,458 || 4,522 || 4,553

|-

! 6

| style="text-align:left;" | Turkish Cargo

| style="text-align:left;" | Turkey

|10,240 || 8,325 ||8,318 || 9,223 || 6,977 || 7,029 || 5,890

|-

! 7

| style="text-align:left;" | Korean Air Cargo

| style="text-align:left;" | South Korea

|8,728 || 8,411 ||9,518 || 10,429 || 8,104 || 7,412 || 7,839

|-

! 8

| style="text-align:left;" | China Southern Airlines Cargo

| style="text-align:left;" | China

|8,653 || 7,610 ||6,915 || 8,078 || 6,591 ||6,825 || 6,597

|-

! 9

| style="text-align:left;" | Cathay Cargo

| style="text-align:left;" | Hong Kong

|8,503 || 8,099 || 5,774 || 8,215 || 8,137 || 10,930 || 11,284

|-

! 10

| style="text-align:left;" | Cargolux

| style="text-align:left;" | Luxembourg

|8,263 || 6,807 ||7,971 || 8,587 || 7,345 || 7,180 || 7,322

|}

Fleet size

Aircraft operated (February 2026)

thumb|[[United Airlines operates the largest number of aircraft, as of September 2025.]]

{|class="wikitable sortable"

<!-- Do not cite financesonline.com/world-airline-fleets-top-10-aviation-armadas-with-most-airplanes/ here, they are republishing old data with new dates.-->

! Rank !! Airline !! Country !! !!

|-

! 1

| United Airlines

| United States

| 1,090

|

|-

! 2

| American Airlines

| United States

| 1,013

|

|-

! 3

| Delta Air Lines

| United States

| 989

|

|-

! 4

| China Southern Airlines

| China

| 850

|

|-

! 5

| Southwest Airlines

| United States

| 810

|

|-

! 7

| Ryanair

| Ireland

| 643

|

|-

! 8

|SkyWest Airlines

|United States

|579

|

|-

! 9

| Turkish Airlines

| Turkey

| 522

|

|-

! 10

| Air China

| China

| 510

|

|}

<!--April 2022 <nowiki>database</nowiki>:

American 977 || Delta 941 || United 863 || Southwest 737 || China Southern 643 || Air China 478 || China Eastern 411 || Turkish 337 || Lufthansa 315 || JetBlue 284

IndiGo 280 || Ryanair 268 || Emirates 265 || British 260 || Alaska 244 || Qatar 239 || Air France 226 || Hainan 225 || All Nippon 204 || Air Canada 187

July 2023 <nowiki>database</nowiki>:

Delta 987 || American 985 || United 932 || Southwest 830 || China Southern 656 || Air China 493 || China Easter 430 || Turkish 366 || IndiGo 311 || Lufthansa 311

|| JetBlue 292 || Ryanair 281 || Emirates 266 || British 251 || Qatar 251 || Alaska 245 || LATAM Brazil+Chile = 225 || Air France 219 || Air Canada 201 || All Nippon 201 || Spirit 197

July 2023 <u>groups</u> <nowiki>database</nowiki>:

American 1,348 || Delta 1,119 || United 908 || China Southern 889 || Southwest 841 || China Eastern 820 || Air China 794 || Lufthansa 625 || Skywest 594 || IAG 573 || Ryanair 558 || AF-KLM 549 || Hainan 430 || Turkish 405 || easyJet 340

March 2023:

1 American Airlines 1,494

2 Delta Air Lines 1,280

3 United Airlines 1,264

4 Southwest Airlines 683

5 FedEx Express 634

6 Ryan Air 545

7 China Southern Airlines 850

8 Lufthansa 401

9 Air France 381

10 Air Canada 359 -->

Aircraft owned (July 2023)

thumb|[[China National Aviation Holding|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.]]

<!--thumb|[[United Airlines is the largest by size of the fleet it owns.]]-->{| class="wikitable sortable"

!Rank

!Holding company

!

!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

|}

Network

Destinations served (April 2026)

thumb|[[United Airlines serves the largest number of destinations, as of February 2024.]]

{| class="wikitable sortable"

! Rank

! Airline

! Country

!

|-

! 1

| United Airlines

| United States

| 392

|-

! 2

| American Airlines

| United States

| 367

|-

! 3

| Delta Air Lines

| United States

| 315

|-

! 4

| Turkish Airlines

| Turkey

| 290<!--the number of destinations Turkish Airlines itself publishes includes cargo destinations-->

|-

! 5

| China Southern Airlines

| China

| 226

|-

! 6

| China Eastern Airlines

| China

| 225

|-

! 7

| Ryanair

| Ireland

| 223

|-

! rowspan="2" |8

|Air China

|China

|213

|-

| British Airways

| United Kingdom

| 213

|-

! 10

| Air Canada

| Canada

| 204

|}

Countries served (April 2026)

thumb|[[Turkish Airlines serves the largest number of countries]]

{| class="wikitable sortable"

! Rank !! Airline !! Number of Countries !! Country of origin

|-

| 1|| Turkish Airlines|| 130<!--the number of countries Turkish Airlines itself publishes includes cargo destinations-->|| Turkey

|-

| 2|| Air France|| 94|| France

|-

| 3|| Qatar Airways|| 92|| Qatar

|-

| 4|| Ethiopian Airlines|| 87|| Ethiopia

|-

| rowspan="2" | 5|| British Airways|| 79|| United Kingdom

|-

|| Emirates|| 79|| United Arab Emirates

|-

| 7|| Lufthansa|| 76||Germany

|-

| 8|| United Airlines|| 75|| United States

|-

| 9|| KLM|| 66|| Netherlands

|-

| rowspan="3" | 10|| American Airlines|| 64|| United States

|-

|| Delta Air Lines|| 64|| United States

|-

|

Air Canada

|64

|Canada

|}

Flights daily (March 2025)

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|-

! Rank

! Airline

! Country

!

|-

! 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)

thumb|[[Southwest Airlines serves the largest number of routes, as of February 2024.]]

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|-

! Rank

! Airline

! Country

!

!

|-

! 1

| Southwest Airlines

| United States

| 2,509

|

|-

! 2

| Ryanair

| Ireland

| 2,496

|

|-

! 3

| American Airlines

| United States

| 1,391

|

|-

! 4

| United Airlines

| United States

| 1,148

|

|-

! 5

| Delta Air Lines

| United States

| 1,095

|

|-

!6

|easyJet

|United Kingdom

|1,207

|

|-

!7

|Wizz Air

|Hungary

|1,018

|

|-

! 8

| China Eastern Airlines

| China

| 923

|

|-

! 9

| China Southern Airlines

| China

| 780

|

|-

! 10

| IndiGo

| India

| 730

|

|}

Notes

See also

  • Flag carrier
  • List of largest airlines in North America
  • List of largest airlines in Europe
  • List of largest airlines in Central America and the Caribbean
  • List of largest airlines in Africa
  • List of largest airlines in Asia
  • List of largest airlines in South America
  • List of largest airlines in Oceania
  • List of airline holding companies
  • List of the busiest airports in Africa
  • List of the busiest airports in Asia
  • List of the busiest airports in Europe
  • List of the busiest airports in Latin America
  • List of the busiest airports
  • List of busiest airports by passenger traffic
  • List of busiest airports by aircraft movements
  • List of busiest passenger air routes

References