The United States has 58 air carriers as of 2023, with the majority, 38 air carriers, being medium and small, with a maximum revenue of one billion dollars. Meanwhile, the number of air carriers with revenue more than one billion dollars was 20 in that year.
Major air carriers
According to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation, major air carriers are commercial airlines generating over one billion U.S. dollars in operating revenue per year. The number of major air carriers can therefore change through smaller airlines growing, as well as through new carriers being created, or existing carriers exiting the market (including through mergers, notably the merger between US Airways and American Airlines in October 2015). This threshold is set such that the majority of the U.S. market is serviced by carriers designated as major, with the top 10 carriers alone accounting for over 90 percent of the domestic market.
Number of air carriers in the United States from 1995 to 2024
Carrier groups are categorized based on their annual operating revenues as major, national, large regional, and medium regional. The thresholds were last adjusted July 1, 1999, and the threshold for major air carriers is currently one billion U.S. dollars. The other air carrier category contains all national, large regional, and medium regional air carriers. Beginning in 2003, regional air carriers are not required to report financial data which may result in under reporting of "Other carriers" in this statistic.
Values prior to 2024 were taken from previous editions.
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Bureau of Transportation Statistics. (January 2, 2024). Number of air carriers in the United States from 1995 to 2024 [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved October 04, 2024, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/183428/number-of-us-air-carriers-since-1995/
Bureau of Transportation Statistics. "Number of air carriers in the United States from 1995 to 2024." Chart. January 2, 2024. Statista. Accessed October 04, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/183428/number-of-us-air-carriers-since-1995/
Bureau of Transportation Statistics. (2024). Number of air carriers in the United States from 1995 to 2024. Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: October 04, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/183428/number-of-us-air-carriers-since-1995/
Bureau of Transportation Statistics. "Number of Air Carriers in The United States from 1995 to 2024." Statista, Statista Inc., 2 Jan 2024, https://www.statista.com/statistics/183428/number-of-us-air-carriers-since-1995/
Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Number of air carriers in the United States from 1995 to 2024 Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/183428/number-of-us-air-carriers-since-1995/ (last visited October 04, 2024)
Number of air carriers in the United States from 1995 to 2024 [Graph], Bureau of Transportation Statistics, January 2, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://www.statista.com/statistics/183428/number-of-us-air-carriers-since-1995/