TOP 10 Airlines by Passenger Traffic (2025)
Global aviation · Passenger traffic benchmark 2024/2025
How the world’s biggest airlines are carrying passengers in 2024–2025
The latest traffic statistics show that global airlines carried almost 4.8 billion segment passengers in 2024, exceeding pre-pandemic levels with record load factors. Within this market, just ten airline groups accounted for well over one and a half billion journeys, shaping capacity, connectivity and pricing for millions of travelers.
This overview uses the most recent 2024 airline traffic tables published in 2025 by industry analysts (Aviation Week’s World Airline Report and FlightGlobal), which consolidate passenger totals for the world’s largest airline groups. These figures are aligned with the broader trends published in IATA’s World Air Transport Statistics (WATS) and its 2024 performance updates for the global industry.
“2024 made it absolutely clear that people want to travel. Airlines met that strong demand with record efficiency… On average, 83.5% of all seats on offer were filled,” noted Willie Walsh, Director General of IATA, commenting on record traffic and load factors.
Why passenger rankings matter more than ever
Ranking airlines by total passengers carried tells us who really controls volume at a time when demand has rebounded and capacity remains tight in some markets. The picture that emerges is a concentrated but diverse top-10:
- Four U.S. giants — American, Delta, United and Southwest — dominate global volumes thanks to the huge domestic U.S. market.
- Three European groups — Lufthansa Group, IAG and Air France–KLM — rely on multi-hub networks across the EU, UK and beyond.
- Two structurally different challengers — Ryanair and IndiGo — are ultra-lean low-cost carriers built around single-class, high-utilisation fleets.
- One global connector — Turkish Airlines — sits at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and the Middle East, linking over a hundred countries via Istanbul.
Metric in focus: segment passengers vs. O&D
The ranking is based on segment passengers — every flight leg flown by a passenger counts as one. IATA also tracks O&D (origin–destination) passengers, where a multi-leg trip is counted once, but airline-level public data is usually reported in segments.
For high-frequency domestic networks in the U.S. and India, segment counts emphasise the role of short-haul hub-and-spoke flying, while for long-haul carriers they highlight the importance of connecting traffic over major hubs.
Global backdrop: traffic at record levels
According to IATA, airlines carried about 4.8 billion segment passengers in 2024, with an expected rise to almost 5.0 billion in 2025. Passenger traffic (RPKs) grew by double digits in 2024, while capacity grew slightly more slowly, pushing load factors higher.
Asia-Pacific and Latin America saw the fastest traffic growth, but North America still accounts for nearly a quarter of global RPKs, underpinning the dominance of U.S. carriers in passenger rankings.
Top 10 airline groups by passengers (2024 benchmark)
The table below summarises the latest publicly available passenger totals for the world’s largest airline groups. Figures are rounded and refer to 2024 segment passengers in millions.
| Rank | Airline group | Passengers 2024 (million) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | American Airlines Group | 225.0 |
| 2 | Delta Air Lines | 200.0 |
| 3 | Ryanair Group | 183.7 |
| 4 | United Airlines Holdings | 174.0 |
| 5 | Southwest Airlines | 140.0 |
| 6 | Lufthansa Group | 131.0 |
| 7 | International Airlines Group (IAG) | 122.0 |
| 8 | IndiGo | 118.6 |
| 9 | Air France–KLM | 98.0 |
| 10 | Turkish Airlines | 83.4 |
Together, these ten airline groups carry roughly a third of all global airline passengers, reflecting both the size of their home markets and the global reach of their networks.
1. American Airlines Group – scale champion of the U.S. market
With around 225 million passengers in 2024, American Airlines Group remains the world’s largest airline group by passenger numbers. Its strength is the vast U.S. domestic market, supplemented by strong transatlantic and Latin American networks. American also scheduled more seats than any other airline globally in 2024, exceeding 275 million seats.
- Network model: multi-hub (Dallas/Fort Worth, Charlotte, Miami, Philadelphia, Phoenix, others).
- Traffic mix: high share of domestic and short-haul connecting passengers, plus premium long-haul to Europe and Latin America.
- Strategic focus: rebuild balance sheet, optimise fleet and grow high-yield corporate and leisure flows.
2. Delta Air Lines – volume leader with a premium focus
Delta carried about 200 million passengers in 2024 and consistently ranks among the top global airlines by revenue, profitability and brand value. Its hubs in Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City and New York underpin a dense network across the U.S., Europe and, increasingly, India and the Middle East through partnerships.
Delta’s strategy emphasises premium cabins, loyalty economics and operational reliability — a combination that allows it to generate high revenue per passenger even while handling enormous volumes.
3. Ryanair Group – ultra-low-cost giant of Europe
Ryanair’s roughly 183.7 million passengers make it not just Europe’s largest airline group, but also the only ultra-low-cost carrier in the global top three. Its point-to-point model, high aircraft utilisation and single-type Boeing 737 fleet keep unit costs extremely low.
- Geography: extensive pan-European network, including secondary airports that offer lower fees and faster turnarounds.
- Business model: very high seat density, ancillary revenues and aggressive pricing to stimulate demand.
- Risk profile: sensitive to fuel and airport cost increases, but highly flexible in adjusting capacity by base and season.
4. United Airlines Holdings – global connectivity from U.S. hubs
United carried about 174 million passengers, supported by strong hubs in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Newark and San Francisco. It leads the industry in available seat miles and has one of the largest wide-body fleets, giving it a major role in transatlantic and transpacific markets.
United’s growth strategy has focused on expanding long-haul flying — particularly to Europe, India and Africa — and deepening partnerships to extend its reach beyond its own metal.
5. Southwest Airlines – domestic powerhouse
Southwest’s 140 million passengers reflect its status as the leading low-cost carrier in the U.S. and one of the largest airlines worldwide. Operating an all-Boeing-737 fleet on a mostly domestic, point-to-point network, Southwest relies on high aircraft utilisation and strong brand loyalty in its home market.
Its traffic base is dominated by short-haul leisure and VFR (visiting friends and relatives) travel, with a growing share of small-business customers attracted by flexible fares.
6. Lufthansa Group – multi-hub European champion
Lufthansa Group — including Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings — carried around 131 million passengers in 2024. The group relies on hubs in Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Vienna and Brussels and offers a broad mix of premium long-haul and European feeder traffic.
The group is balancing network restoration, cost control and fleet renewal, while navigating competitive pressure from Gulf carriers and low-cost rivals in intra-European markets.
7. International Airlines Group (IAG) – transatlantic and Iberian specialist
IAG, parent of British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, Vueling and LEVEL, handled about 122 million passengers. It combines London-Heathrow’s premium long-haul focus with Iberia’s strength on routes to Latin America and low-cost intra-European capacity via Vueling.
Recent financial results highlight strong profitability and margins, driven by robust transatlantic demand and yield recovery on key long-haul routes.
8. IndiGo – India’s domestic giant with global ambitions
IndiGo carried about 118.6 million passengers, making it the only Indian airline in the global top 10 and one of the fastest-growing carriers worldwide. India has now become the world’s fifth-largest aviation market by passengers, and IndiGo dominates domestic capacity with a large, fuel-efficient narrow-body fleet.
- Core: dense domestic network built around Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and other metros.
- Expansion: rapid growth in international flying to the Middle East, Southeast Asia and, increasingly, Europe.
- Fleet strategy: major Airbus orders (including A321neo and A350) to support long-term capacity growth.
9. Air France–KLM – dual-hub network across Paris and Amsterdam
With around 98 million passengers, Air France–KLM remains one of Europe’s key network groups. Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam Schiphol serve as twin hubs, offering connecting flows between Europe, North America, Africa and Asia.
The group is investing in fleet modernisation and sustainability, while adjusting capacity in response to slot and environmental constraints at its main hubs.
10. Turkish Airlines – global connector at the crossroads of continents
Turkish Airlines carried roughly 83.4 million passengers and serves more countries than any other airline in the world, using Istanbul as a super-hub between Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Its strategy relies on high transfer volumes and competitive pricing for long-haul itineraries that avoid congested Western European hubs, while also tapping into strong local demand in Turkey and the wider region.
Visualising the gap between the top 10 airlines
The chart below compares passenger volumes for each airline group. It highlights how far ahead the largest U.S. and European carriers are, and how fast challengers like Ryanair and IndiGo have climbed in the global ranking.
Figure 1. Top 10 airline groups by passengers carried, 2024 (million, segment passengers)
What the chart tells us about airline competition
- High concentration at the top: American, Delta, Ryanair and United each carry well over 170 million passengers, creating a clear volume gap versus the rest of the field.
- Low-cost carriers as volume engines: Ryanair and IndiGo show that ultra-efficient single-class operations can match or exceed the traffic of many legacy network carriers.
- Regional diversity: U.S. carriers dominate overall, but Europe and India together contribute four airline groups to the top 10, underscoring the importance of those markets in global aviation.
- Connector hubs still matter: Turkish Airlines’ position reflects Istanbul’s role as a cost-effective global hub linking dozens of countries without relying on a huge domestic market.
Implications for 2025 and beyond
Looking into 2025, IATA expects global passenger numbers to approach five billion, with demand normalising towards historical growth rates. For the airlines in this ranking, the challenge is to convert record volumes into sustainable profitability while investing in fleet renewal and decarbonisation.
- U.S. majors will continue to leverage their domestic dominance but face constraints from crew availability, airport capacity and the need to renew ageing fleets.
- European groups must juggle environmental regulations, airport slot limits and geopolitical risks while defending their hub traffic from both Gulf carriers and low-cost competitors.
- High-growth markets like India will see carriers such as IndiGo expand internationally, potentially climbing further up in global rankings as new wide-body aircraft are delivered.
- Global connectors like Turkish Airlines will exploit their geographic position to capture transfer flows between regions, especially as Asia-Pacific traffic continues to recover and grow.
For airports, regulators and investors, monitoring passenger volumes at the airline-group level is a practical way to track competitive dynamics: who is gaining share, which markets are expanding fastest and where new infrastructure or policy interventions may be needed.
Sources and further reading
- IATA – Global Air Passenger Demand Reaches Record High in 2024 (press release, 30 January 2025)
- IATA – Industry Statistics Fact Sheet (updated June 2025)
- Wikipedia – Largest Airlines in the World (airline groups by passengers, 2024 table and references)
- OAG – Top Airlines of 2024: Leading Capacity, ASKs and More
- The Economic Times – USA Has 4 Times More Flyers Than India in 2024, According to IATA WATS
