Delta now world’s largest carrier; Ryanair stays top international airline

Delta Air Lines handled 111.2 million scheduled (domestic and international) passengers in 2010, followed by Southwest (106.2 million) and American Airlines (86.1 million). China Southern Airlines was next largest, handling 76.1 million passengers in 2010, followed by Ryanair (71.2 million), as was the case in 2009. Meanwhile, Lufthansa overtook United Airlines for sixth place, and China Eastern Airlines entered the top 10 for the first time, at the expense of Continental Airlines. Air France rounded out the Top 10 list.  

IATA scheduled passenger (domestic and international) traffic rankings for 2010 and 2009

	2009	(000s)	2010	(000s)
1	Southwest Airlines	101,338	Delta Air Lines	111,159
2	American Airlines	85,720	Southwest Airlines	106,228
3	Delta Air Lines	67,935	American Airlines	86,129
4	China Southern Airlines	65,959	China Southern Airlines	76,078
5	Ryanair	65,282	Ryanair	71,229
6	United Airlines	56,024	Lufthansa	56,693
7	Lufthansa	53,223	United Airlines	54,015
8	US Airways	50,975	US Airways	51,814
9	Air France	47,965	China Eastern Airlines	50,336
10	Continental	44,032	Air France	47,029

Source: Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation and IATA

Ryanair remains largest international carrier, way ahead of Lufthansa and easyJet

Ryanair remained as the world’s largest international carrier, handling 71.2 million passengers in 2010. This equates to 60% more international passengers than the next largest carrier, which was Lufthansa with 44.5 million passengers. Ryanair’s international passengers were almost double that of easyJet  (37.7 million) and more than double Air France’s 30.9 million passengers. The ranking of the world’s top five airlines was the same as in 2009. 

Emirates Airlines, meanwhile, moved up to fifth place with 30.8 million passengers, overtaking British Airways with 22.8 million. KLM remained as the fifth largest international airline, with Delta Air Lines featuring in the list in 2010, at the expense of Singapore Airlines, which slipped out of the Top 10. American Airlines and Cathay Pacific rounded out the Top 10.

IATA international scheduled passenger traffic rankings for 2010 and 2009

	2009		2010
1	Ryanair	65,282	Ryanair	71,229
2	Lufthansa	41,515	Lufthansa	44,460
3	easyJet	34,593	easyJet	37,665
4	Air France	31,256	Air France	30,882
5	British Airways	27,844	Emirates	30,848
6	Emirates	25,921	British Airways	26,320
7	KLM	22,333	KLM	22,787
8	American Airlines	19,514	Delta Air Lines	21,029
9	Cathay Pacific Airways	18,102	American Airlines	20,356
10	Singapore Airlines	16,322	Cathay Pacific Airways	19,723

Source: Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation and IATA

US and Chinese carriers are the world’s largest domestic airlines

Southwest Airlines was the largest domestic carrier in 2010, with 106.2 million passengers, ahead of Delta Air Lines (90.1 million) and China Southern Airlines (90.1 million). American Airlines, US Airways and United Airlines also remained significnat domestic carriers, with the remaining carriers based in Asia. All of China’s Big Three carrier’s featured in the list, as did All Nippon Airways, now Japan’s largest domestic and international carrier, and Qantas Airways.

IATA scheduled domestic passenger traffic rankings for 2010

	2010	(000s)
1	Southwest Airlines	106,225
2	Delta Air Lines	90,130
3	China Southern Airlines	71,158
4	American Airlines	65,773
5	US Airways	45,530
6	United Airlines	44,390
7	China Eastern Airlines	42,754
8	Air China	39,846
9	All Nippon Airways	38,907
10	Qantas Airways	31,288

Source: Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation and IATA

Emirates remains largest carrier by international traffic (RPKs)

Emirates remained the world's largest carrier measured by international traffic (RPKs) for the second consecutive year, ahead of Lufthansa and Delta Air Lines although Air France-KLM would have ranked first if its two operating units were combined. Domestically, only US and Chinese carriers rated in the top 10 list, led by Delta Air Lines. Southwest and JetBlue were the only two LCCs featuring.

IATA scheduled traffic (RPKs) rankings for 2010

Source: Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation & IATA

Cathay Pacific becomes world’s largest international cargo carrier

Cathay Pacific Airways was the largest international cargo carrier in 2010, ahead of Korean Air and Emirates with FedEx, UPS Airlines and China Southern Airlines the largest domestic freight carriers.

IATA Scheduled traffic (FTKs) rankings for 2010

Source: Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation and IATA