Passenger airlines - statistics & facts

Passenger airlines are airlines dedicated to the transport of human passengers; they typically operate a fleet of passenger aircraft that may be either owned outright by an airline company or leased from commercial aircraft sales and leasing companies. Passenger airlines can be mainline, with flights operated by the airline's central operating unit, or a regional airline that operates regionally over shorter non-intercontinental distances. Passenger airlines may also be low-cost carriers that provide basic and less expensive services. The charter airlines operate outside regular schedule intervals or major airlines with at least one billion U.S. dollars in revenue.




Largest airlines in the world

Some of the largest airlines worldwide include Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Deutsche Lufthansa, United Intercontinental Holdings, China Southern Airlines, and Air France-KLM. In 2022, Delta Air Lines was the airline with the highest brand value, closely followed by American, United, and Southwest Airlines. Delta Air Lines had an estimated brand value of just above 7.3 billion U.S. dollars. Moreover, Delta Air Lines was the most punctual among other North American airline companies, with 84.1 percent on-time performance. Meanwhile, American Airlines had a 78.77 percent on-time performance and became North America's most punctual company.



Net Zero in Aviation

As of October 2022, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) agreed to achieve net-zero carbon emissions in the aviation industry by decreasing Co2 from flight operations and switching to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF.) By 2050, the aviation industry is forecasted to need 450 billion liters of SAF to decarbonize the sector. As of February 2023, United Airlines was by far the leading SAF purchaser, with an off-take volume of more than 10.5 billion liters. Delta Air Line was the second leading purchaser. However, the purchase gap between Delta and United was approximately 6.7 billion liters.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.
Published by Statista Research Department, Aug 31, 2023

Key insights

Passenger air traffic growth in 2021
21.8%
Worldwide revenue in passenger air traffic in 2021
239bn USD
Operating profit of commercial airlines in 2021
-45.1bn USD
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