Airlines

The 10 largest airlines in the world by passengers numbers are American, Delta, United, Southwest, Lufthansa, Ryanair, China Eastern, China Southern, EasyJet and Air China. The passenger numbers fro these airlines ranged from 193 to 50 million in 2013. In terms of revenue, the largest airlines are Lufthansa, United, Delta, Air France-KLM, American, International, Southwest, All Nippon, China Southern and Qantas Airways.

According to Skytrax the World's Top-ranked Airlines in 2014, from 1 to 20, are Cathay Pacific, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Turkish Airlines, All Nippon, Garuda Indonesia, Asiana, Etihad, Lufthansa, Qantas, EVA Air, Swiss, Thai Airways, Virgin Australia, Air New Zealand, British Airways, Malaysia Airlines, Hainan Airlines and Bangkok Airways.

Most of the large airlines in the world belong to one of three airline alliances. The first is the Star Alliance (Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss, Air Canada, Air New Zealand, Eva Air, LOT, Singapore, United, ANA, South African Airways and others). Second is the the One World Alliance (British Airways, Qantas, American, Cathay, Air Berlin, Iberia, Finnair, JAL, Qatar and others) and thirdly, Skyteam (Air France, KLM, Delta, Korean, Allitalia, China Airlines, Aeromexico and others).


Click here for the most complete list of Airlines Of The World. Click here for the Airports Of The World. For live flight tracking visit Flightaware

Here are some of the world's top airlines:

British Airways is one of the world’s premier airlines and the flag carrier and largest airline of the UK in terms of fleet size, international flights and international destinations. It is second- largest measured by passengers carried, behind easyJet and it is permanently involved in a fierce rivalry with Virgin Atlantic. BA has 52 Boeing 747-400s and 52 Boeing 777 as the crux of its long-haul fleet and 112 Airbus 318,319 and 320s for its shorter routes. It is a founding member of the Oneworld airline alliance. BA offers First, Business, Premier Economy and Economy on its longer flights and its frequent Flyer programme is called Executive Class with blue, bronze, silver and gold membership levels.


Air France was a major world airline even before its merger with KLM in 2003. It flew 59 million passengers in 2011 and it operates 254 Airbus and Boeing aircraft, including the A380. It is part of the SkyTeam alliance and its frequent flyer programme is called Flying Blue.

Based in Doha, Qatar Airways serves over 100 destinations worldwide with a large, modern fleet consisting of 25 Boeing 777s, 29 Airbus 333s and many more variants of both. It recently took possession of its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner with another 59 on order. It was voted Airline of the Year 2011 in the Skytrax industry audit. Click below for an interactive Qatar route map. See the video link below to experience a Qatar 787 flight between Doha and London (from the Telegraph) Qatar Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Etihad Airways is the national airline of the United Arab Emirates and has grown over the past ten years as one of the world’s leading airlines. It has large a substantial Airbus fleet, but also a large number of Boeing 777s and has ordered 70 new 787s Dreamliners. See its Routemap.

Ethiopian is Africa's largest airline and fastest-growing airline and has got a fleet of over 30 mostly-modern large Boeing and Airbus aircraft (Boeing767s, 787s and 777s, and the Airbus 350) and many smaller 737-type planes. Many of their pilots appear to be European and South African. The airline clearly is trying to emulate the Emirates model, using Addis Ababa as a transit hub to serve routes across the world, including Europe, Asia and the west coast of North America.

Air New Zealand is the national airline of New Zealand, based in Auckland and is member of the Star Alliance. The airline operates flights to 27 domestic destinations and 27 international destinations in 15 countries and is currently the only airline to circumnavigate the world. It operates a long-haul fleet consisting of Boeing 747s, 767s and Airbus A320 aircraft on international routes. ANZ's mould-breaking premier economy class seats are probably the best in the world, plus the airline introduced a mini-sleeper 'bed' for two passengers in ecomomy class.

Virgin Atlantic is a British airline majority-owned by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group. It uses a fleet of 43 Airbus and Boeing wide-bodied jets and carried 5.3 million passengers in 2011. Virgin has subsidiary airlines in various countries, e.g. Virgin America and Virgin Australia. Delta has a 49% share in virgin. Experience Virgin Upperclass on Youtube.

Lufthansa is the largest in Europe and the world's fourth-largest airline in terms of overall passengers carried and fleet size. In 2010 over 90 million passengers flew with Lufthansa and it served 197 international destinations in 78 countries with over 870 aircraft. It is based in Cologne and its primary traffic hub is in Frankfurt. Lufthansa is a founding member of the Star Alliance. Experience Lufthansa's Premium economy class cabin.

Cathay Pacific serves 170 destinations in 42 countries. It has a long-haul fleet consisting of 46 Boeing 777s, 44 Boeing 747s and 46 Airbus 333s and 340s. It is the world’s 2nd most profitable airline. Its frequent flyer programme is called the Marco Polo Club and it is part of the OneWorld Alliance.




Swiss is Switzerland’s best known airline and is the successor of Swissair. The latter went out of business in 2002 and the new airline took over the routes and some assets of Crossair and Swissair. It serves 72 destinations around the world with its 88- aircraft fleet. It is part of the Lufthansa Group and a member of the global Star Alliance.