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 passengers carried

Southwest B737

Rank	Airline	2008 (thousands)[1]	2007 (thousands)[2]	2006 (thousands)[3]	2005 (thousands)
1	Southwest Airlines	101,921	101,911	96,277	88,380	[4]
2	American Airlines	92,772	98,162	99,835	98,038	[5]
3	Delta Air Lines1	71,843	72,900	73,584	86,007
4	United Airlines	63,070	68,400	69,265	66,717
5	China Southern Airlines	57,961	56,900	48,512	43,228
6	Ryanair	57,647
7	US Airways	54,776
8	Lufthansa	54,699	62,900	53,400	51,300	[6]
9	Air France	50,449	74,795	73,484	70,015	[7]
10	Northwest Airlines	49,671
	Continental Airlines		53,700	55,925	57,547
	Japan Airlines		50,442	48,911	50,884	[8]
	All Nippon Airways		50,384	49,226	48,315	[9]

Notes

• Based on International Air Transport Association published figures
• Note 1: Delta will become the world's largest carrier once Delta and Northwest have combined into one airline, which will be called "Delta".

[edit] Scheduled international passengers carried

Ryanair Boeing 737-800 shortly after takeoff

Rank	Airline	2008 (thousands)[2]	2007 (thousands)[3]	2006 (thousands)
1	Ryanair	57,647	49,030	40,532
2	Lufthansa1	42,151	41,322	38,236
3	EasyJet	35,417	30,173	21,917
4	Air France	32,508	31,549	30,417
5	British Airways	29,054	28,302	29,498
6	KLM	23,808	23,165	22,322
7	Emirates Airline	22, 444	20,448	16,748
8	American Airlines	21,154	21,479	21,228
9	Singapore Airlines2	19,142	18,957	18,022
10	Cathay Pacific3	18,860

Notes

• Based on International Air Transport Association published figures
• Note 1: Excludes figures for Swiss International Air Lines and Germanwings
• Note 2: Excludes figures for SilkAir
• Note 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	2008 (thousands)[1]	2007 (thousands)[2]	2006 (thousands)[3]
1	Southwest Airlines	101,921	101,911	96,277
2	American Airlines	71,618	76,687	78,607
3	Delta Air Lines	59,499	61,651	63,446
4	China Southern Airlines1	54,154	52,505	45,249
5	United Airlines	53,307	58,162	58,801
6	US Airways	49,208	37,560	32,094
7	All Nippon Airways	42,854	44,792	45,328
8	Northwest Airlines	38,890	37,175	35,852
9	Japan Airlines	35,068	35,583	37,154
10	Continental Airlines	34,578	44,337	45,743

Notes

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

[edit] By scheduled passenger-kilometres

[edit] Scheduled passenger-kilometres flown

An American Boeing 757

Rank	Airline	2008 (millions)[10]	2006 (millions)	2005 (millions)
1	American Airlines	242,987	231,330	222,761
2	United Airlines	204,706	197,684	191,933
3	Delta Air Lines3	199,895	178,952	166,209
4	Continental Airlines	149,845	137,712	130,965
5	Air France1	129,433	123,458	128,914
6	Lufthansa2	126,267	122,672	107,091
7	Northwest Airlines	126,212	116,845	91,357
8	Southwest Airlines	124,734	116,845	90,385
9	British Airways	114,608	113,275	114,896
10	KLM	113,672

Notes

• Based on International Air Transport Association published figures
• Note 1: Excludes figures for KLM
• Note 2: Excludes figures for Swiss International Air Lines and Germanwings
• Note 3: Delta will become the world's largest carrier once operations with Northwest Airlines have combined.

[edit] Scheduled international passenger-kilometres flown

Air France Airbus A320-200

Rank	Airline	2008[10] (millions)	2007 (millions)
1	Air France1	121,498	118,112
2	Lufthansa2	121,101	211,987
3	British Airways	113,075	211,987
4	Emirates Airline	100,672	90,530
5	Singapore Airlines3	93,626	90,901
6	Cathay Pacific4	83,542	74,987
7	American Airlines	80,809	81,324
8	KLM	77,550
9	United Airlines	73,927	77,709
10	Delta Air Lines	71,972	63,202

Notes

• Based on International Air Transport Association published figures
• Note 1: Excludes figures for KLM
• Note 2: Excludes figures for Swiss International Air Lines and Germanwings
• Note 3: Excludes figures for SilkAir
• Note 4: Includes figures for flights between Hong Kong and the rest of the People's Republic of China

[edit] Scheduled domestic passenger-kilometers flown

American Airlines Airbus A300

Rank	Airline	2008 (millions)[10]	2007 (millions)[10]	2006 (millions)
1	American Airlines	131,178	141,437	143,201
2	Southwest Airlines	118,272	116,385	108,935
3	United Airlines	102,779	114,224	114,106
4	Delta Air Lines	97,923	103,008	104,626
5	US Airways	77,054	52,018	43,606
6	China Southern Airlines1	71,584	69,367	59,006
7	Continental Airlines	69,814	74,126	70,810
8	Northwest Airlines	58,501	63,872	64,979
9	JetBlue Airways	41,953	41,395	37,513
10	Air China	38,761

Notes

• Based on International Air Transport Association published figures
• Note 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	2008 (millions)[11]	2007 (millions)[11]	2006 (millions)	2005 (millions)
1	FedEx Express	26,122	19,710	16,145	12,408
2	UPS Airlines	16,977	13,968	9,941	9,075
3	Korean Air Cargo	8,890	9,568	8,764	8,072
4	Cathay Pacific	8,245	8,225	6,914	6,458
5	Lufthansa Cargo1	8,206	8,348	8,091	7,680
6	Singapore Airlines Cargo2	7,486	7,945	7,991	7,603
7	Air France3	6,820	6,126	5,868	5,532
8	Cargolux	6,334	5,482	5,237	5,149
9	Emirates Airline	5,313	5,497
10	China Airlines	5,261	6,301	6,099	6,037

Notes

• Based on International Air Transport Association published figures
• Note 1: Includes figures for Lufthansa
• Note 2: Includes figures for Singapore Airlines
• Note 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	2008 (millions)[11]	2007 (millions)	2006 (millions)
1	Korean Air Cargo	8,822	9,498	8,680
2	Cathay Pacific3	8,245	8,225	6,914
3	Lufthansa Cargo1	8,194	8,336	8,077
4	Singapore Airlines Cargo2	7,486	7,945	7,991
5	FedEx Express	6,582	6,470	6,136
6	Emirates Airline	6,013	5,497	5,027
7	Air France4	6,013	6,123	5,864
8	Cargolux	5,334	5,482	5,237
9	UPS Airlines	5,289	5,077
10	China Airlines	5,261	6,301	6,099

Notes

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

[edit] Scheduled domestic freight tonne-kilometres flown

FedEx Express McDonnell Douglas MD-11

Rank	Airline	2007 (millions)[11]	2006 (millions)
1	FedEx Express	9,239	9,009
2	UPS Airlines	5,892	5,315
3	China Southern Airlines1	1,101	1,027
4	Northwest Airlines	773	890
5	Air China1	757	706
6	China Eastern Airlines1	590	560
7	United Airlines	507	417
8	American Airlines	469	493
9	All Nippon Airways	407	404
10	Japan Airlines	399

Notes

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

[edit] By fleet size

[edit] Passenger airlines

Rank	Airline	Fleet size	Notes
1	American Airlines	608[12]
2	Delta Air Lines	575[13]
3	Southwest Airlines	547[14]
4	United Airlines	386[15]
5	Air France-KLM	378[16]
6	Continental Airlines	361[17]
7	US Airways	356[18]
8	Air Canada	334[19]
9	China Southern Airlines	327[20]
10	SkyWest Airlines	280[21]
11	American Eagle Airlines	270[22]

[edit] Cargo airlines

Rank	Airline	Fleet size	Notes
1	FedEx Express	672[23]
2	UPS Airlines	262[24]
3	DHL Aviation	77

[edit] By number of destinations

[edit] Current Destination Number

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

Rank	Airline	Country	Destination Number
1	Delta Air Lines	United States	375
2	Continental Airlines	United States	351
3	Northwest Airlines	United States	254
4	US Airways	United States	231
5	Lufthansa	Germany	201
6	Air China	China	185
7	Air France	France	170
8	SkyWest Airlines	United States	160
9	Turkish Airlines	Turkey	158
10	American Airlines	United States	157
11	British Airways	United Kingdom	150
12	Ryanair	Ireland	143
13	Japan Airlines	Japan	125
13	KLM	Netherlands	125
15	Air Berlin	Germany	123
16	China Southern Airlines	China	121
17	Iberia Airlines	Spain	118
18	Korean Air	South Korea	116
19	United Airlines	United States	114
20	easyJet	United Kingdom	106
21	Emirates Airline	United Arab Emirates	101

[edit] By region

[edit] Scheduled passengers carried

Continent/ region	Airline	Passengers carried	Full list
Africa	South African Airways	8,050,000 (2006/2007)[25]	List of largest airlines in Africa
Asia	China Southern Airlines	58,237,000 (2008)[26]	List of largest airlines in Asia
Europe	Air France-KLM	74,795,000 (2007)[2]	List of largest airlines in Europe
North America	Southwest Airlines	101,911,000 (2007)[2]	List of largest airlines in North America
Oceania	Qantas	25,950,000 (2007)[27]	List of largest airlines in Oceania
South America	TAM Airlines (TAM Linhas Aéreas)	24,002,620 (2008)[28]	List of largest airlines in South America

[edit] Historical

During the Soviet era, Aeroflot was the Soviet national airline and the largest airline in the world from late 1930s until the fall of the Soviet Union, where it employed more than 4,000 pilots, 60,000 other service personnel and operated around 3,000 aircraft at its peak.^[29] However, REG Davies claims that by 1992 Aeroflot had over 600,000 people operating over 10,000 aircraft.^[30] By 1967, Aeroflot amassing a fleet equal to that of the largest American carriers combined ^[31] by 1976 Aeroflot carried its 100 millionth passenger. In 1988, Aeroflot operated 1,600 medium- and long-range passenger and cargo aircraft plus many types of fixed and rotary-wing aircraft serving more 3,600 population centers and had a route network, excluding overlapping routes, that extended 1,156,000 kilometers, of which 185,000 kilometers were international routes. Aeroflot transported 3,157,000 tons of freight and carried 116.1 million passengers, of whom 3.4 million were on international flights.^[32]

[edit] See also

• World's busiest airport
• World's busiest airports by passenger traffic
• World's busiest airports by traffic movements
• 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
• List of busiest airports in Latin America by passenger traffic
• List of the largest airports in the Nordic countries

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• World Air Transport Statistics, International Air Transport Association.