Largest airlines in the world

The largest airlines in the world can be defined in several ways. , Delta Air Lines was the largest by revenue, assets, fleet size, market capitalization and brand value; American Airlines Group by passengers carried and employees; FedEx Express by freight tonne-kilometers; Southwest Airlines by routes; and Turkish Airlines by countries served.

According to Forbes in 2023, Delta Air Lines had the highest revenue among public airlines, followed by American Airlines Group and United Airlines Holdings. Emirates and Qatar Airways, being state-owned and privately held respectively, are not included in this list. Brand Finance, in 2024, ranks Delta Air Lines as the most valuable airline brand, followed by American Airlines and United Airlines. Emirates and Qatar Airways also feature prominently in terms of brand value.

American Airlines Group carried the most passengers in 2022, followed by Delta Air Lines and Ryanair. United Airlines, Lufthansa, and Southwest Airlines also rank highly in passenger numbers, highlighting the dominance of US and European carriers in flight volume.

By financial performance




Revenue
Note that Emirates is a state-owned company, and is thus not included in this list of public companies. Its 2023 revenue was estimated over US$29.2 billion, which would have had placed the company into 6th place. 2021's over US$18 billion and 5th place. Its 2014-2015 revenue was 88.819 AED billion (US$ billion), profit 4.555 AED billion (US$ billion), and assets 111.362 AED billion (US$ billion), with 56,725 employees. Qatar Airways Group is similarly privately held with 2023 revenue of nearly 21 billions USD placing it into the 9th place (with Emirates included) above the Turkish Airlines.

Scheduled passenger-kilometers flown (millions)


‡ - marks a defunct airline.