Last updated: November 21, 2025
So what are the airline rankings for the largest air carriers in the world? The answer depends on the criteria used to determine the airline’s size: it could be the number of passengers carried, number of departures (number of flights), revenue, etc. In this article, we present to you the world’s biggest airlines by seat capacity based on data from Official Airline Guide (OAG), a UK firm for aviation analytics.
The list of the world's biggest airlines is dominated by American, European and Chinese airlines. To help you understand the size of the world's largest airlines, we've found the10 biggest airlines in the world by seat capacity.
With its 275,483,887 seats, American Airlines is the biggest airline in the world by seat capacity with 6.5% growth YoY. For context, that's four times the population of the UK and almost half the population living in Europe.
American boasts more than 6,800 daily flights – one every 13 seconds, and takes passengers to 350 locations in 48 countries worldwide. Some of its busiest routes include Cancun-Dallas, Miami-Havana, and New York-London.
In terms of performance, 79.03% of American's flights in October arrived on time, according to Cirium. In comparison to last year, American Airlines have a higher volume of disrupted flights, which can be expected by the biggest airline in the world.
American is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, and was formed in 2013 after the merger of AMR Corporation and US Group, currently the American Airlines Group. The original American Airlines was actually formed in the 1930s and was a conglomeration of 82 small airline companies.
Delta is the world’s 2nd largest airline in terms of seat capacity, 239,908,388 seats, and operates flights across all continents. Their busiest routes include Atlanta-Cancun, Amsterdam-Detroit, and Atlanta-San Juan. Contrary to AA, the majority of Delta's flights are domestic.
With 84.47% on-time arrivals, Delta Air Lines has the best performance from all North American airlines on our list. According to SkyRefund data, the second-biggest airline in the world shows a continuous increase in the number of disrupted flights in comparison to last year.
Delta is also the oldest United States airline still in operation. The original company - Delta Air Lines - began as a crop dusting operation in Georgia back in 1924. In 1929 it was transformed into Delta Air Service and made its first passenger flight between Texas and Mississippi.
The company is headquartered in Atlanta and operates over 4,000 flights daily from its eight hubs.
The 3rd spot in the ranking is held by Southwest, the world’s largest low-cost air carrier: they had a capacity of 231,418,133 seats. Despite its size, Southwest operates only in North and Latin America, with the US as its main market.
Southwest has the worst on-time performance of the North American airlines on our list, with around 76% of its flights arriving on time.
The company was founded in 1967 in Texas as an intrastate airline whose plan was to undercut competitors’ prices and avoid federal price controls and market regulations. After successfully winning the lawsuits that followed, Southwest resumed operations in 1971.
Today Southwest boasts 3,000 departures every day in peak season with its busiest routes being San Juan-Orlando, Cancun-Houston, Baltimore-San Juan.
United Airlines is an airline based in Chicago, Illinois. Its fleet has a capacity of 212,889,710 seats, putting it as the 4th largest airline in the world. But because of its investments in long-haul flights, United is the number 1 airline for Available Seat Kilometres (ASKs). Notable routes include Houston-Cancun, New York-London, and Houston-Mexico.
Despite its 81% on-time arrival punctuality, United Airlines also shows a growth in flight disruptions in comparison to last year.
The airline was established in Idaho as Varney Air Lines almost a century ago. Later, Varney became the first private contractor for airmail flights in the US. The company was then merged with others, including Boeing Air Transport.
United Airline's fleet consists mainly of Boeing and Airbus aircraft and flies to over 350 destinations.
With 209,613,290 seat capacity, it's no surprise that Ryanair is known as Europe's biggest airline. The Irish carrier focuses on routes in Africa, Europa, and the Middle East across 5,442 routes.
Ryanair also ranks in 3rd place by number of disrupted flights in our ranking of the airlines with the most delays and cancellations this summer. Some of the destinations with most disruptions include Marrakesh, London, and Faro.
The success story of Ryanair is astonishing! The Dublin-based company was founded not too long ago, in 1984, to fight the British Airways / Aer Lingus duopoly on the London-Ireland flights. When allowed to fly to Luton in 1986, it had two planes on two routes but managed to carry a staggering number of 82,000 passengers in one year!
The first Asian airline in the top 10, the Guangzhou-based China Southern, ranks 6th with its 148,850,573 seats. With almost 1,730 routes, China Southern operates across all continent, with most of its flights in Asia and Europe.
It is а relatively young company: it was created in 1988 after the PRC government decided to decentralise monopoly carrier CAAC, established in 1949. The so-called ‘Big Three’ were created in the process: China Southern (planned to serve Asia), China Eastern (to operate in Eastern Asia) and the flag carrier airline — Air China.
Gradually, Southern developed into Asia’s largest airline in terms of fleet size (611, including cargo aircraft), revenue and passengers carried. It operates more than 2000 flights a day and flies to over 200 destinations.
This Shanghai-based Chinese airline comes 7th in the world top ten with its 145,781,551 seats. Chine Eastern are focusing on expanding their international markets with focus on Japan and Thailand. While they fly worldwide, most of their flights are within Asia and Europe.
It was created with China Southern and flag-carrier Air China as the ‘Big Three’ 30 years ago. Its initial purpose was to serve countries in East Asia, but today it flies passengers to 248 regional, domestic and international destinations in Asia, North America and Australia.
China Eastern Airlines holds the record for the longest non-stop route — Shanghai to New York, which started operating in 2007.
IndiGo, whose official name is InterGlobe Aviation, was founded in 2006 and has expanded significantly since then. The Indian low-cost airline takes the 8th spot in the ranking with its 134,922,816 seats, but it is also the 3rd largest Asian carrier and the largest Indian airline in terms of passengers carried and fleet size.
With 80.19%, IndiGo also the 4th most-punctual Asian airline operating across 1.231 routes in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.
IndiGo operates over 300 aircraft and 1,600 flights per day to 101 destinations (75 domestic and 26 international), as of November 2022. The primary hub of the Indian airline is Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi.
What’s most impressive about IndiGo is that it was ranked as the 3rd most punctual airline globally by OAG Punctuality League.
PRC’s flag carrier ranks as the 9th biggest airline with its capacity of 115,882,868 seats and is headquartered at Beijing Capital International Airport. Air China currently operates across 1,189 routes, mostly in Europe and Asia.
Air China was established in 1988 after the split of CAAC and was “put in charge” of intercontinental flights.
Air China inherited CAAC’s Boeing 747s, 767s and 707s for long-haul flights. Its current fleet consists serves over 1,189 routes . The Chinese airline also uses Beijing Daxing, Chengdu Shuangliu, and Shanghai Pudong International airports as hubs.
Air China has been a member of the Star Alliance since 2007.
The last carrier on our list is another European one. With 102,499,409, easyJet ranks as the 10th biggest airline in the world. The British carrier operates across 2,131 routes in the Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.
Similarly to Ryanair, easyJet also made our list of the airlines with the most disruptions this summer. Roughly every 1 in 19 flights of the airline experienced delay or cancellation between the months June and August. Most disrupted destinations include Larnaca, Dalaman, and London.
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