World’s Busiest Airlines By Number of Flights
In fact, there are dozens of attributes to rate, rank, and benchmark airlines: Number of passengers, destinations, or capacity are just a few examples. However, the number of flights is one of the attributes that perfectly reflects the current size of an airline. That’s why we specifically looked at this figure and put together the lists of the world’s busiest airlines. Here’s what’s contained in detail:
Top 20 World’s Busiest Airlines
Regional Spotlight
Asia / Pacific Top 20 Busiest Airlines
Europe Top 20 Busiest Airlines
North America Top 20 Busiest Airlines
Latin America Top 20 Busiest Airlines
Top 20 World’s Busiest Airlines
When looking at the world’s busiest airlines, China and the United States continue to dominate the ranking. Twelve of twenty airlines are based in the United States or China. Unsurprisingly, the picture is identical to the latest airport ranking.
Four Airlines With More Than 100,000 Flights
In June 2021, four airlines operated more than 100,000 flights. However, all airlines are located in the United States: American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and Southwest Airlines. Based on the number of flights, American Airlines is by far the world’s busiest airline — operating almost 45,000 flights more than Delta on rank 2.
European and Latin American Airlines’ Traffic Remains at low Level.
Only five out of the 20 busiest airlines are based in Europe or Latin America. Moreover, the number of flights is relatively low compared to the big US or Chinese players.
Asia – Pacific Top 20 Busiest Airlines
Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of Asia’s busiest airlines are based in China. More precisely, eight of the top 20 are located in China. Moreover, the number of flights varies largely between the top Asian players and airlines ranking on position ten or lower. For example, whereas China Eastern on the first rank operated more than 60,000 flights, Japan Airlines on position ten handled 14,000, and SpiceJet on position 20 operated only 6,000 flights.
Europe, Middle East & Africa Top 20 Busiest Airlines
According to the number of flights, Ryanair is Europe’s busiest airline. Ryanair operated almost 40,000 flights in June — 12,000 more than Turkish Airlines on the second rank. Besides, we have a mixed field of airlines from various countries. Interesting fact: The former top players, Emirates, and Etihad are currently not among the top 20 EMEA airlines in terms of the number of flights.
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North America Top 20 Busiest Airlines
When looking at North America, we currently find three types of airlines. First, we have the big four —American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and Southwest— operating more than 100,000 flights. Second, we have mid-sized airlines in a second category: Alaska Airlines, JetBlue, Spirit, Frontier, and Allegiant — operating 10,000 to 35,000 flights. And finally, we have the third category operating a few hundred to 10,000 flights.
[table “” not found /]Latin America Top 20 Busiest Airlines
LATAM remains to be Latin America’s busiest airline. However, Azul, on the second rank, operated only 3,000 flights less than LATAM. Furthermore, Aeromexico, Volaris, and Avianca operated more than 10,000 monthly flights.
World’s Busiest Airlines — What Do You Think?
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Data Source: OAG Punctuality League
