World's largest airlines

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There are several methods to measure the size of an airline, so several different lists of the world's largest airlines are available.

[edit] By scheduled passengers

[edit] Scheduled international passengers carried

Ryanair Boeing 737-800 shortly after takeoff

Rank	Airline	2009 (thousands)	2008 (thousands)	2007 (thousands)
1	Ryanair	65,282	57,647
2	Lufthansa	41,515	42,151
3	EasyJet	34,593	35,417
4	Air France	31,256	32,508
5	British Airways	27,844	29,054
6	Emirates Airline	25,921	22,444
7	KLM	22,333	23,808
8	American Airlines	19,514	21,154
9	Cathay Pacific	18,102
10	Singapore Airlines	16,322	19,142

Notes

• Based on International Air Transport Association published figures
• ^1 Excludes figures for Swiss International Air Lines and Germanwings
• ^2 Excludes figures for SilkAir
• ^3 Excludes figures for Dragonair, which if included will be 23,253.

[edit] Scheduled domestic passengers carried

A Southwest Airlines 737 landing at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

Rank	Airline	2009 (thousands)	2008 (thousands)	2007 (thousands)
1	Southwest Airlines	101,338	101,921	101,911
2	American Airlines	66,206	71,618	76,687
3	China Southern Airlines	62,267	54,154	52,505
4	Delta Air Lines	55,808	59,499	61,651
5	United Airlines	46,988	53,307	58,162
6	US Airways	45,201	49,208	37,560
7	All Nippon Airways	37,944	42,854	44,792
8	China Eastern Airlines	37,668
9	Air China	34,413
10	Northwest Airlines	33,412	38,890	37,175

Notes

• Based on International Air Transport Association published figures
• ^1 Includes figures for flights between Hong Kong from the rest of the People's Republic of China.

[edit] By scheduled passenger-kilometers

[edit] Scheduled passenger-kilometer flown

American Airlines Boeing 757

Rank	Airline	2009 (millions)	2008 (millions)	2007 (millions)
1	American Airlines	196,939	242,987	231,330
2	Delta Air Lines	161,904	199,895	178,952
3	United Airlines	161,436	204,706	197,684
4	Air France	126,415	129,433	123,458
5	Continental Airlines	125,048	149,845	137,712
6	Lufthansa	123,083	126,267	122,672
7	Emirates Airlines	118,284	100,672	90,530
8	British Airways	111,995	114,608	113,275
9	Northwest Airlines	100,152	126,212	116,845
10	Qantas Airways	97,488

Notes

• Based on International Air Transport Association published figures
• ^1 Delta will become the world's second-largest carrier once the United-Continental merger is complete
• ^2 United will become the world's largest carrier once operations are combined with Continental Airlines
• ^3 Excludes figures for Swiss International Air Lines and Germanwings

[edit] Scheduled international passenger-kilometers flown

Emirates Airline

Rank	Airline	2009 (millions)	2008 (millions)
1	Emirates Airline	118,284	100,672
2	Lufthansa	118,264
3	Air France	116,711
4	British Airways	109,402	113,075
5	Singapore Airlines	81,552	93,626
6	Cathay Pacific	81,086	83,542
7	American Airlines	76,301	80,809
8	KLM	73,472	71,972

Notes

• Based on International Air Transport Association published figures
• ^1 Excludes figures for Swiss International Air Lines and Germanwings
• ^2 Excludes figures for KLM
• ^3 Excludes figures for SilkAir
• ^4 Excludes figures for Dragonair

[edit] Scheduled domestic passenger-kilometers flown

American Airlines Airbus A300

Rank	Airline	2009 (millions)	2008 (millions)	2007 (millions)
1	American Airlines	120,638	131,178	141,437
2	United Airlines	93,362	102,779	114,224
3	Delta Air Lines		97,923	103,008
4	China Southern Airlines	81,850	71,584	69,367
5	US Airways	71,266	77,054	52,018
6	Continental Airlines	66,409	69,814	74,126
7	Northwest Airlines	55,589	58,501	63,872
8	Air China	46,159	38,761
9	China Eastern Airlines	43,922
10	Qantas	35,784

Notes

• Based on International Air Transport Association published figures
• ^1 Includes figures for flights to Hong Kong from the rest of the People's Republic of China.

[edit] By scheduled freight

[edit] Scheduled freight tonne-kilometres flown

A FedEx Express Airbus A310 taxis for takeoff at the Royal International Air Tattoo, Fairford, Gloucestershire, England.

Rank	Airline	2009 (millions)	2008 (millions)	2007 (millions)	2006 (millions)	2005 (millions)
1	FedEx Express	13,756	26,122	19,710	16,145	12,408
2	UPS Airlines	9,189	16,977	13,968	9,941	9,075
3	Korean Air Cargo	8,284	8,890	9,568	8,764	8,072
4	Cathay Pacific	7,722	8,245	8,225	6,914	6,458
5	Lufthansa Cargo	6,668	8,206	8,348	8,091	7,680
6	Singapore Airlines Cargo	6,455	7,486	7,945	7,991	7,603
7	Emirates Airline	6,369	5,313	5,497
8	China Airlines	4,903	5,261	6,301	6,099	6,037
9	Air France	4,675	4,675	6,820	6,126	5,868
10	Cargolux	4,652	6,334	5,482	5,237	5,149

Notes

• Based on International Air Transport Association published figures
• ^1 Includes figures for Lufthansa
• ^2 Includes figures for Singapore Airlines
• ^3 Excludes figures for KLM

[edit] Scheduled international freight tonne-kilometres flown

Korean Air Boeing 747, one of the passenger aircraft with the cargo hold managed by Korean Air Cargo

Rank	Airline	2009 (millions)	2008 (millions)	2007 (millions)	2006 (millions)
1	Korean Air Cargo	8,225	8,822	9,498	8,680
2	Cathay Pacific	7,722	8,245	8,225	6,914
3	Lufthansa Cargo	6,660	8,194	8,336	8,077
4	Singapore Airlines Cargo	6,455	7,486	7,945	7,991
5	Emirates Airline	6,369	6,013	5,497	5,027
6	FedEx Express	5,808	6,582	6,470	6,136
7	China Airlines	4,903	5,261	6,301	6,099
8	Air France	4,672	6,013	6,123	5,864
9	Cargolux	4,652	5,334	5,482	5,237
10	UPS Airlines	4,495	5,289	5,077

Notes

• Based on International Air Transport Association published figures
• ^1 Includes figures for flights between Hong Kong and the rest of the People's Republic of China
• ^2 Includes figures for Lufthansa
• ^3 Includes figures for Singapore Airlines
• ^4 Excludes figures for KLM

[edit] Scheduled domestic freight tonne-kilometres flown

FedEx Express McDonnell Douglas MD-11

Rank	Airline	2009 (millions)
1	FedEx Express	7,947
2	UPS Airlines	4,694
3	China Southern Airlines	1,103
4	Air China	841
5	China Eastern Airlines	698
6	All Nippon Airways	423
7	Japan Airlines	412
8	Northwest Airlines	404
9	Hainan Airlines	373
10	United Airlines	370

Notes

• Based on International Air Transport Association published figures
• ^1 Excludes figures for flights to Hong Kong and Macau from the rest of the People's Republic of China.

[edit] By fleet size

[edit] Passenger airlines

Delta Air Lines Boeing 757

Updated as of April 23, 2010

Rank	Airline	Fleet size	Notes
1	Delta Air Lines	743	41 orders
2	American Airlines	615	116 orders
3	Southwest Airlines	547	69 orders
4	United Airlines	360	50 orders
5	US Airways	345	141 orders
6	Continental Airlines	339	83 orders
7	Air Canada	335	37 orders
8	China Southern Airlines	349	127 orders
9	Lufthansa	317	80 orders
10	SkyWest Airlines	294	160 orders
11	Ryanair	250	63 orders
12	Air France	250	34 orders
13	British Airways	241	47 orders

[edit] Cargo airlines

Updated as of April 23, 2010

Rank	Airline	Fleet size	Notes
1	FedEx Express	661	57 orders
2	UPS Airlines	212	27 orders
3	DHL Aviation	51

[edit] By number of destinations

[edit] Current Number of Destinations

This list comprises the airlines with over 100 destinations. These destinations include subsidiaries airlines of each company, but exclude codeshare agreements.

Rank	Airline	Country	Destinations
1	Delta Air Lines	United States	355
2	Continental Airlines	United States	351
3	US Airways	United States	231
4	United Air Lines	United States	230
5	Lufthansa	Germany	201
6	Air Canada	Canada	178
7	Air France	France	170
8	British Airways	United Kingdom	165
9	Turkish Airlines	Turkey	165
10	SkyWest Airlines	United States	160
11	American Airlines	United States	157
12	Air Berlin	Germany	154
13	Qantas	Australia	150
14	Ryanair	Ireland	143
15	Austrian Airlines	Austria	130
16	Japan Airlines	Japan	125
17	KLM	Netherlands	125
18	China Southern Airlines	China	121
19	Iberia Airlines	Spain	118
20	SAS	Denmark, Norway, Sweden	116
21	Korean Air	South Korea	116

[edit] By region

[edit] Scheduled passengers carried

Continent/ region	Airline	Passengers carried	Full list
Africa	EgyptAir	8,400,000 (2009)	List of largest airlines in Africa
Asia	China Southern Airlines	58,237,000 (2008)	List of largest airlines in Asia
Europe	Lufthansa	76,500,000 (2009)	List of largest airlines in Europe
North America	Delta Air Lines	161,049,000 (2009)	List of largest airlines in North America
Oceania	Qantas Group	38,600,000 (2009)	List of largest airlines in Oceania
South America	TAM Airlines (TAM Linhas Aéreas)	24,005,620 (2009)	List of largest airlines in South America

[edit] See also

• World's busiest airport
• World's busiest airports by passenger traffic
• World's busiest airports by traffic movements
• World's busiest passenger air routes
• List of the busiest airports in Africa by passenger traffic
• List of the busiest airports in Asia by passenger traffic
• List of the busiest airports in Europe by passenger traffic
• Busiest airports in the Republic of Ireland by total passenger traffic
• List of busiest airports in Latin America by passenger traffic
• List of the largest airports in the Nordic countries
• List of airline holding companies
• Flag carrier

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• IATA World Air Transport Statistics, International Air Transport Association.