Market Value: World’s 50 Largest Airlines By Market Cap

A Financial View At Airlines

Metrics to define the world’s largest airlines are sheer endless: fleet size, number of passengers, served countries, revenue passenger kilometers, and many others. We wanted to add a financial dimension and analyzed hundreds of publicly listed airline companies. As a result, we’re thrilled to present the world’s 50 largest airlines by market cap. Here’s an overview of what’s contained in this blog:

• What’s Market Cap, and how we Measured?
• Largest Airlines by Market Cap: 50 — 41
• Largest Airlines by Market Cap: 40 — 31
• Largest Airlines by Market Cap: 30 — 21
• Largest Airlines by Market Cap: 20 — 11
• Largest Airlines by Market Cap: 10 — 1

What’s Market Cap and how we Measured?

Let’s have some quick explanations before we dive into the ranking’s details. First, the market capitalization (market cap) reflects the value of a publicly listed company. In most cases, the calculation is straightforward: The number of issued stocks multiplied with the current stock price. However, and worth mentioning: Since the calculation is based on the stock price, the market cap is highly dynamic. Accordingly, the shown list might change quickly — as stock prices do. Nevertheless, we will keep updating the list regularly.

Largest Airlines By Market Cap: 50 — 41

Let’s kick off the list of the world’s largest airlines by market cap with the ranks 50 to 41. And we have to say that these ranks are pretty much dominated by Asian airlines. With Air Busan, T’way, and Jeju Air, we have three airlines from South Korea. On top of that, we find Thai Airways, Nok Air, Bangkok Airways, AirAsia, and SpiceJet as further airlines from Asia.

Overall, 8 out of 10 airlines are from Asia. Moreover, it is interesting to see some well-known carriers, such as AirAsia and Thai Airways, with relatively low market capitalization. That’s definitely still an impact of COVID-19 and might change in the next months.

Largest Airlines By Market Cap: 40 — 31

The list of the largest airlines by market cap continues with another two airlines from South Korea. However, we find a more diverse picture than positions 50-41, with airlines from North and Central America and Europe.

Again, it is surprising to see two of the world’s biggest airlines (Turkish Airlines and Air France/KLM) with low market capitalization, especially when considering the fleet size. Jin Air ranked 40th operates a fleet of 28 aircraft and has a value of $0.96 Billion. Air France / KLM, on the other side, operates a combined fleet of 330 aircraft (10x Jin Air), but its market cap is only 1.5 compared to Jin Air. However, this might rapidly change once the airline industry rebounds from COVID’s impact.

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Largest Airlines By Market Cap: 30 — 21

When looking at 30 to 21, the market cap quickly climbs from $2.45 Billion to $6 Billion. At that time, we have a mixed picture of airlines from Asia and America.

Largest Airlines By Market Cap: 20 — 11

On positions 20 two 11, the market cap almost doubles from EasyJet’s $6.44 Billion to China Eastern’s $11.5 Billion. Concerning its fleet size, Spring Airlines is definitely a surprise. The Chinese carrier operates a fleet of 100 aircraft but has a higher market capitalization than flag carriers such as Lufthansa or Air Canada.

On the other side, we also expected China Easter Airlines to rank higher. The airline ranks among the top five in many categories, such as passengers or fleet size. Therefore, it’s surprising that the airline didn’t make it to the top 10.

Largest Airlines By Market Cap: 10 — 1

When looking at the top 10, we can see a rapid increase in terms of market cap. Moreover, the list of the top 10 largest airlines by market size is mainly dominated by airlines from China and the United States — which isn’t surprising according to COVID’s impact on airlines.

For us, it was super-surprising to see Hainan Airlines at the top of the list. The Chinese carrier operates a fleet of “only” 220 aircraft. If we again compare that to Air France / KLM, whose fleet is 100 aircraft bigger, Hainan’s market cap is more than 15x.

What’s Your Opinion?

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Data Source: Data shown was retrieved from Companiesmarketcap.com — 9th June 2021.