Largest airlines in the world facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

The largest airlines in the world are huge companies that help people and goods travel all over the globe. There are many ways to figure out which airline is the biggest. For example, some are measured by how many seats they offer, how much money they make, how many planes they have, or how many places they fly to.

As of 2024, United Airlines was a leader in several ways, like how many seats they had available for flights and how many places they flew to. Delta Air Lines was the most valuable airline, meaning it had the highest worth based on its money, what it owned, and its brand. American Airlines Group carried the most passengers. For cargo, FedEx Express moved the most goods by weight and distance. Southwest Airlines had the most flight paths, and Turkish Airlines flew to the most countries.

How Airlines Make Money
- Most Valuable Airline Brands
Airline Capacity and Passengers
Airline Fleet Size
- Aircraft Operated (June 2025)
Airline Network
See also

How Airlines Make Money

Airlines are big businesses, and we can compare them by looking at their money. This includes how much money they earn (revenue), how much profit they make (net income), what they own (assets), and how much the company is worth on the stock market (market capitalization).

Delta Air Lines is a top airline when it comes to how much money it makes and its overall value.

United Airlines leads in how many seats it offers, its fleet size, and the number of places it flies to.

American Airlines Group carries the most passengers each year.

Here's a look at some of the biggest airlines by their financial numbers in 2024:

2024 Rank	Airline Group	Country	Revenue	Net Income	Assets	Market Cap	Employees
2024 Rank	Airline Group	Country	(US$ billions)				Employees
1	Delta Air Lines	United States	61.6	3.5	75.3	39	103,000
2	United Airlines	United States	57.1	3.1	74.1	32	107,300
3	American Airlines Group	United States	54.2	1.3	68.8	11	133,300
4	Lufthansa Group	Germany	40.4	1.5	51.1	9	98,739
5	Air France–KLM	France/ Netherlands	36.2	0.69	37.5	2.4	76,566
6	International Airlines Group	United Kingdom/ Spain	34.2	2.9	41.6	21	71,794
7	Southwest Airlines	United States	27.5	0.47	33.8	17	72,450
8	China Southern Airlines	China	24.5	–0.59	43.7	13	97,899
9	Air China	China	23.0	1.6	22.0	17	87,190
10	Turkish Airlines	Turkey	22.5	6.8	35.6	12	57,991

Some big airlines like Emirates and Qatar Airways Group are owned by their governments or private groups, so their financial details aren't always public like the airlines in the table above.

Most Valuable Airline Brands

Just like your favorite shoes or video games have a brand value, so do airlines! This shows how much people trust and recognize an airline's name. Here are the top airline brands in 2025:

2025 Rank	Airline	Country	$bn	Year-to-year change
1	Delta Air Lines	United States	14.9	&10000000000000038334416+38.3%
2	United Airlines	United States	12.3	&10000000000000041770401+41.8%
3	American Airlines	United States	11.7	&10000000000000014235500+14.2%
4	Emirates	United Arab Emirates	8.4	&10000000000000027080181+27.1%
5	Southwest Airlines	United States	6.3	&10000000000000016796440+16.8%
6	British Airways	United Kingdom	4.6	&10000000000000044881889+44.9%
7	China Southern Airlines	China	4.1	&10000000000000048174918+48.2%
8	Qatar Airways	Qatar	3.9	&10000000000000024282982+24.3%
9	Air Canada	Canada	3.2	&10000000000000014081996+14.1%
10	China Eastern	China	3.2	&10000000000000025934671+25.9%

Airline Capacity and Passengers

Airlines are also measured by how much "capacity" they have. This means how many seats they offer and how many passengers they carry.

Available Seat Miles (ASMs)

Available Seat Miles (ASMs) is a way to measure how much an airline can fly. It's calculated by multiplying the number of seats on a plane by the distance it flies. A higher ASM means the airline has more seats available to fly people around.

Rank	Airline	Country	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019
1	United Airlines	United States	311	291	248	179	123	285
2	American Airlines	United States	293	278	260	215	143	285
3	Delta Air Lines	United States	288	272	233	194	134	275
4	Emirates	United Arab Emirates	222	230	177	99	40	228
5	Southwest Airlines	United States	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

Airlines by Passengers Carried

This table shows which airline groups carried the most passengers in recent years.

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

Airlines by Freight Carried

Airlines don't just carry people; they also transport a lot of cargo! This is measured in "tonne-kilometers," which means how many tonnes (1000 kg) of cargo are flown over a certain distance.

FedEx Express is the largest airline for carrying freight.

Rank	Airline	Country	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018
1	FedEx Express	United States	17,923	19,547	20,660	19,656	17,503	17,499
2	Qatar Airways Cargo	Qatar	14,406	14,267	16,102	13,740	13,024	12,695
3	UPS Airlines	United States	14,239	15,889	15,529	14,371	12,842	12,459
4	Emirates SkyCargo	United Arab Emirates	10,636	10,153	11,842	9,569	12,052	12,713
5	Atlas Air	United States	8,915	8,675	8,441	5,458 #12	4,522 #16	4,553 #16
6	Korean Air Cargo	South Korea	8,411	9,518	10,429	8,104	7,412	7,839
7	Turkish Cargo	Turkey	8,325	8,318	9,223	6,977	7,029	5,890
8	Cathay Cargo	Hong Kong	8,099	5,774 #13	8,215	8,137	10,930	11,284
9	China Southern Airlines Cargo	China	7,610	6,915	8,078	6,591	6,825	6,597
10	Cargolux	Luxembourg	6,807	7,971	8,587	7,345	7,180	7,322

Airline Fleet Size

An airline's "fleet" is all the airplanes it owns or uses. A larger fleet means an airline can fly more routes and carry more passengers or cargo.

Aircraft Operated (June 2025)

This table shows the number of aircraft each airline operates.

United Airlines operates the largest number of aircraft.

Rank	Airline	Country	No.
1	United Airlines	United States	1,037
2	American Airlines	United States	992
3	Delta Air Lines	United States	986
4	China Southern Airlines	China	850
5	Southwest Airlines	United States	801
6	China Eastern Airlines	China	800
7	Ryanair	Ireland	624
8	SkyWest Airlines	United States	579
9	Air China	China	500
10	Turkish Airlines	Turkey	484

Airline Network

An airline's "network" refers to all the places it flies to and all the routes it offers.

Destinations Served (March 2025)

This table shows how many different cities or airports an airline flies to.

United Airlines flies to the most destinations.

Rank	Airline	Country	No.
1	United Airlines	United States	381
2	American Airlines	United States	356
3	Delta Air Lines	United States	311
4	Turkish Airlines	Turkey	286
5	Ryanair	Ireland	239
6	China Southern Airlines	China	235
7	China Eastern Airlines	China	224
8	Lufthansa	Germany	214
9	British Airways	United Kingdom	213
10	Air France	France	196

Countries Served (June 2025)

This table shows which airlines fly to the most countries around the world.

Turkish Airlines flies to the most countries.

Rank	Airline	Country	No.
1	Turkish Airlines	Turkey	124
2	Qatar Airways	Qatar	92
3	Ethiopian Airlines	Ethiopia	87
4	Air France	France	86
5	Emirates	United Arab Emirates	80
=6	United Airlines	United States	77
=6	British Airways	United Kingdom	77
8	Lufthansa	Germany	75
9	KLM	Netherlands	66
10	American Airlines	United States	61

Routes Served (March 2025)

A "route" is a specific path an airplane flies, like from New York to London. This table shows which airlines have the most unique routes.

Southwest Airlines has the most flight routes.

Rank	Airline	Country	No.
1	Southwest Airlines	United States	2,831
2	Ryanair	Ireland	2,611
3	American Airlines	United States	1,250
4	China Eastern Airlines	China	1,038
5	United Airlines	United States	1,120
6	Delta Air Lines	United States	1,042
7	China Southern Airlines	China	814
8	Air China	China	631
9	IndiGo	India	610
10	Turkish Airlines	Turkey	401