The largest airlines 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
Revenue 2025 rankAirline groupCountryRevenue(in US$ billion) 1 Delta Air LinesUnited 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 7Southwest AirlinesUnited States28.08China Southern AirlinesChina24.49Turkish AirlinesTurkey24.1 10Air ChinaChina23.4 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 $22.2 billion.
Earnings 2025 RankAirline GroupCountry Earnings(US$ billion) 1 Delta Air LinesUnited States 6.8 2 United Airlines United States 5.4 3 International Airlines Group United Kingdom / Spain 5.2 4 Turkish Airlines Turkey 2.9 5 Lufthansa Group Germany 2.9 6Ryanair GroupIreland2.97Singapore AirlinesSingapore2.28LATAM AirlinesChile / Brasil2.2 9 American Airlines Group United States 1.9 10 Air France–KLM France / The Netherlands 1.7
Market capitalization (June 2026) RankAirline GroupCountry Market cap(US$ billion) 1 Delta Air LinesUnited States 54.56 2 United Airlines United States 37.49 3Ryanair GroupIreland31.41 4 International Airlines Group United Kingdom/Spain 24.03 5Southwest AirlinesUnited States22.226IndiGoIndia19.927Air ChinaChina19.778Singapore AirlinesSingapore17.629LATAM AirlinesChile15.5810China Southern AirlinesChina14.64
Brand value
2025 Rank Airline Country $bn Year-to-yearchange 1 Delta Air Lines United States 14.9 2 United Airlines United States12.3 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. Rank Airline Country 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 Ref1 United Airlines United States 330311 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 AirlinesChina 151 197 96 133 134 214 9 Turkish Airlines Turkey 145 146 124 80 47 117 10 China Eastern AirlinesChina 138 114 60 100 95 168
Airline groups by passengers (millions) RankAirline GroupCountry2024202320222021202020191 American Airlines GroupUnited States 225 211 199 124 95 215 2 Delta Air LinesUnited States 200 190 175 123 80 204 3 Ryanair HoldingsIreland 184 182 168 97 52 1484 United AirlinesUnited States 174 165 144 73 57 162 5 Southwest AirlinesUnited States 140 137 157 123 67 162 6 Lufthansa GroupGermany 131 123 101 24 36 145 7 International Airlines Group United Kingdom / Spain 122 115 95 31 118 112 8 IndiGoIndia 119 105 75 48 35 9 Air France–KLMFrance / Netherlands 98 118 83 28 10 Turkish AirlinesTurkey 83 83 72 45 28 Sources:
Freight (millions of CTK)
Rank AirlineCountry / Region2024202320222021202020192018 1 FedEx Express United States18,133 17,923 19,547 20,660 19,656 17,503 17,499 2 Qatar Airways Cargo Qatar15,211 14,406 14,267 16,102 13,740 13,024 12,695 3 UPS Airlines United States15,094 14,239 15,889 15,529 14,371 12,842 12,459 4 Emirates SkyCargo United Arab Emirates12,354 10,636 10,153 11,842 9,569 12,052 12,713 5 Atlas Air United States11,942 8,915 8,675 8,441 5,458 4,522 4,553 6 Turkish Cargo Turkey10,240 8,325 8,318 9,223 6,977 7,029 5,890 7 Korean Air Cargo South Korea8,728 8,411 9,518 10,429 8,104 7,412 7,839 8 China Southern Airlines Cargo China8,653 7,610 6,915 8,078 6,591 6,825 6,597 9 Cathay Cargo Hong Kong8,503 8,099 5,774 8,215 8,137 10,930 11,284 10 Cargolux Luxembourg8,263 6,807 7,971 8,587 7,345 7,180 7,322
Fleet size Aircraft operated (February 2026)
Rank Airline Country 1 United Airlines United States 1,137 2 American Airlines United States 1,013 3 Delta Air Lines United States 1,004 4 China Southern Airlines China 850 5 Southwest Airlines United States 810 6 China Eastern Airlines China 664 7 Ryanair Ireland 643 8SkyWest AirlinesUnited States579 9 Turkish Airlines Turkey 545 10 Air China China 510
Network
Destinations served (April 2026)
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 5 China Southern Airlines China 226 6 China Eastern Airlines China 225 7 Ryanair Ireland 2238Air ChinaChina213 British Airways United Kingdom 213 10 Air Canada Canada 204
Countries served (April 2026)
Rank Airline Number of Countries Country of origin 1 Turkish Airlines 130 Turkey 2 Air France 94 France 3 Qatar Airways 92 Qatar 4 Ethiopian Airlines 87 Ethiopia 5 British Airways 79 United Kingdom Emirates 79 United Arab Emirates 7 Lufthansa 76Germany 8 United Airlines 75 United States 9 KLM 66 Netherlands 10 American Airlines 64 United States Delta Air Lines 64 United StatesAir Canada64Canada
Flights daily (March 2025) 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)
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 1,0956easyJetUnited Kingdom1,2077Wizz AirHungary1,018 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 Lists of the busiest airports List of busiest airports by passenger traffic List of busiest airports by aircraft movements List of busiest passenger flight routes
References