North America and Asia Pacific dominate listing of world’s largest airlines

US carriers accounted for all three of the largest airline globally (measured in seats) as of the end of Mar-2023 and the start of the 2023 summer schedule.

American Airlines was the largest airline by capacity, offering just short of 5 million seats per week.

It was followed by Delta Air Lines and low cost carrier Southwest Airlines. United Airlines was the fifth largest carrier by seats.

US airlines have been helped by a particularly strong domestic market, thanks to ongoing demand for leisure travel.

Outbound international travel by US nationals has also been strong (above pre-pandemic levels since around Sep-2022), although inbound travel by foreign nationals continues to lag pre-pandemic levels by around 25%.

Ryanair was the largest carrier outside of the US. The Irish LCC has been aggressively expanding since early 2022, pushing its seat capacity 13% above pre-pandemic levels.

The airline is anticipating a strong European peak summer period, particularly to Mediterranean sun destinations.

Also expanding rapidly in Europe is tenth largest airline Turkish Airlines.

The carrier's seat capacity is now 6% above 2019 levels and Turkish Airlines has plans to add more than 24 international destinations in the short term.

China's 'Big Three' carriers fill three of the top 10 slots.

These are led by China Eastern Airlines in sixth, followed by China Eastern Airlines in seventh and Air China in ninth.

Chinese airlines are expected to add substantial amounts of international seats over the summer schedule, although growth in China's substantial domestic market is expected to be marginal (around 0.4%).

IndiGo is the solitary Indian carrier in the top 10 listing.

IndiGo has been tracking above pre-pandemic traffic levels since Apr-2022, thanks to India's rapidly expanding domestic market.

The carrier is due to take delivery of nearly 60 short-haul aircraft over 2023. These aircraft, a mix of A320neos and ATR 72s, will mostly be dedicated to its domestic network.

Largest airlines by seats (week commencing 27-Mar-2023)

Source: CAPA - Centre for Aviation and OAG

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