INTERNATIONAL AIRLINE UPDATE: The world's air carriers
LONDON – The world's four largest airlines in 1999 were all U.S.-based, with the largest, UAL Corp's United Airlines, 70 percent bigger than European leader British Airways. The biggest Asian carrier was Japan Airlines, which is about 40 percent of United's size, measured by revenue-passenger-kilometers (RPKs – paying passengers multiplied by distance traveled).
The world's 50 largest airlines, ranked by passenger traffic in billions of RPKs in 1999:
Rank
Name
Country
Traffic
1
United Airlines
US
201.9
2
American Airlines
US
180.1
3
Delta Air Lines
US
168.6
4
Northwest Airlines
US
119.3
5
British Airways
GB
117.4
6
Continental Airlines
US
96.6
7
Air France
FR
85.5
8
Japan Airlines
JP
84.3
9
Deutsche Lufthansa
DE
81.4
10
US Airways
US
66.9
11
Singapore Airlines
SG
65.7
12
Qantas Airways
AU
59.9
13
KLM Royal Dutch
NL
58.9
14
Southwest Airlines
US
58.7
15
All Nippon Airways
JP
56.7
16
Trans World Airlines
US
41.9
17
Cathay Pacific
HK
41.5
18
Air Canada
CA
39.0
19
Thai International
TH
37.6
20
Alitalia
IT
36.8
21
Korean Air
KR
36.7
22
Malaysian Airline
MY
34.9
23
Iberia
ES
34.6
24
Swissair
CH
33.0
25
America West
US
28.5
26
Canadian Airlines
CA
26.7
27
Virgin Atlantic
GB
25.0
28
Varig
BR
23.6
29
China Airlines
TW
22.3
30
Scandinavian Air SE NO
DK
21.2
31
Air New Zealand
NZ
19.7
32
Saudi Arabian
SA
19.6
33
Alaska Airlines
US
18.9
34
China Southern
CN
18.7
35
Japan Air System
JP
18.4
36
EVA Air
TW
18.2
37
Sabena
BE
17.7
38
South African
ZA
17.6
39
American Trans Air
US
16.9
40
Aeroflot
RU
16.4
41
Emirates
UE
16.1
42
Ansett Australia
AU
15.8
43
Air China
CN
15.7
44
THY Turkish
TR
13.9
45
Asiana Airlines
KR
13.7
46
El Al
IL
13.6
47
China Eastern
CN
13.0
48
Finnair
FI
13.0
49
Mexicana
MX
12.8
50
Aeromexico
MX
12.4
Note: For a few airlines, figures are based on the fiscal year, ending March 31, 2000, rather than the calendar year.
Source: Flight International, based on research by Airline Business.