Top 100 Airlines by Passengers Carried, 2026 Snapshot
Which Airlines Carry the Most Passengers in the 2026 Traffic Snapshot?
Updated: May 2, 2026 · Metric: annual passengers carried, in millions · Snapshot basis: latest complete annual airline traffic data available by May 2, 2026This ranking measures airline scale by passengers carried: the number of passenger boardings handled by an airline, airline group or holding company during its latest published annual reporting period. It is a volume indicator, not a quality score, revenue ranking or safety rating. One traveler taking two separate flights is counted twice, because the metric measures traffic handled by the carrier.
The 2026 label is a snapshot date rather than a completed-year total. Full-year 2026 passenger figures are not available yet, so the table uses the newest annual passenger totals published by airlines, investor releases, aviation regulators and industry statistical sources as of May 2026. For many large groups this means 2025; for others it means 2024 or, where a separate figure has not yet been updated, the latest reported annual number.
What the ranking shows at a glance
American Airlines Group ranks first by passengers carried, reflecting the depth of the U.S. domestic market and the role of regional partners in feeding major hubs.
The midpoint sits between TUI Group airlines and Jet2.com, showing how quickly scale falls after the largest North American, Chinese, European and Indian carriers.
The upper tier is not just made of long-haul flag carriers. It includes high-frequency domestic groups and low-cost airlines with dense short-haul networks.
Passenger counts favor high-frequency short-haul networks. They do not measure distance flown, premium revenue, profitability, fleet age or service quality.
Top 10 overview: why the leaders are so large
The top of the ranking is shaped by three structural forces. The first is domestic market size: U.S. and Chinese airline groups can carry enormous passenger volumes without relying only on international long-haul traffic. The second is low-cost frequency: Ryanair, Southwest, IndiGo, easyJet and Wizz Air move very large numbers of people through dense short-haul schedules. The third is consolidation: groups such as Lufthansa, IAG, Air France-KLM and LATAM aggregate several airline brands under one reporting umbrella.
The most visible outliers are Ryanair and IndiGo. They rank with or above many legacy airline groups despite having simpler networks because their model is built around high aircraft utilization, dense seating and very frequent short-to-medium-haul flying. By contrast, Emirates, Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines are globally important airlines but appear lower by raw passenger count because long-haul networks generate more passenger-kilometers per traveler, not necessarily more boardings.
A dense U.S. domestic network, major hubs and regional feeder operations keep American at the top by boardings.
Europe’s largest low-cost group benefits from very high aircraft utilization and short-haul frequency across secondary and primary airports.
Delta combines a large U.S. domestic base with strong hubs and premium international traffic, but the ranking counts passengers rather than yield.
United’s hub network is especially strong in long-haul and coastal gateways, while domestic connections add substantial passenger volume.
Southwest remains one of the world’s biggest carriers by passengers because of frequent point-to-point flying in the U.S. market.
China Southern’s scale reflects China’s domestic rebound, large fleet base and broad network across southern and national trunk routes.
Air China is lifted by Beijing-centered domestic flows, international recovery and group-level consolidation of affiliated carriers.
China Eastern’s Shanghai hub and domestic trunk network place it among the global leaders even before distance-based traffic is considered.
The group total combines Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings and related operations, so it is best read as a group ranking.
IndiGo’s position reflects India’s fast-growing domestic market and one of the world’s most scalable single-aisle low-cost models.
Full ranking table: Top 100 airlines and airline groups by passengers carried
Values are shown in millions of passengers and rounded to one decimal where appropriate. The table opens with the largest carriers first, and readers can expand the view to compare all 100 airlines and groups.
Showing the default Top 20 view.
| Rank | Airline / group | Passengers carried | Data year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | American Airlines GroupUnited States · Legacy network group | 223.5M | 2025 |
| 2 | Ryanair GroupIreland / Malta / Poland / UK · Ultra-low-cost group | 206.4M | 2025 |
| 3 | Delta Air LinesUnited States · Legacy network carrier | 200.0M | 2024 |
| 4 | United Airlines HoldingsUnited States · Legacy network group | 181.1M | 2025 |
| 5 | Southwest AirlinesUnited States · Low-cost carrier | 168.3M | 2025 |
| 6 | China Southern AirlinesChina · Network airline group | 164.7M | 2025 |
| 7 | Air ChinaChina · Network airline group | 155.3M | 2025 |
| 8 | China Eastern AirlinesChina · Network airline group | 140.6M | 2025 |
| 9 | Lufthansa GroupGermany / Austria / Switzerland / Belgium · Network airline group | 135.0M | 2025 |
| 10 | IndiGoIndia · Low-cost carrier | 123.0M | 2025 |
| 11 | International Airlines GroupUK / Spain / Ireland · Network airline group | 121.6M | 2025 |
| 12 | Air France-KLMFrance / Netherlands · Network airline group | 102.8M | 2025 |
| 13 | easyJetUnited Kingdom · Low-cost carrier | 94.9M | 2025 |
| 14 | Turkish AirlinesTürkiye · Global network carrier | 92.6M | 2025 |
| 15 | LATAM Airlines GroupChile / Brazil / regional · Network airline group | 87.4M | 2025 |
| 16 | Wizz AirHungary / UK / Malta · Ultra-low-cost group | 68.6M | 2025 |
| 17 | Air India GroupIndia · Network airline group | 63.9M | 2025 |
| 18 | AirAsia GroupMalaysia / regional · Low-cost group | 63.2M | 2025 |
| 19 | Alaska Air GroupUnited States · Network airline group | 58.6M | 2025 |
| 20 | Qantas GroupAustralia · Network airline group | 56.0M | 2025 |
| 21 | EmiratesUnited Arab Emirates · Global network carrier | 55.6M | 2025 |
| 22 | Aeroflot GroupRussia · Network airline group | 55.3M | 2025 |
| 23 | Qatar AirwaysQatar · Global network carrier | 55.3M | 2025 |
| 24 | Hainan Airlines GroupChina · Network airline group | 54.6M | 2025 |
| 25 | Air CanadaCanada · Network airline group | 47.0M | 2024 |
| 26 | Japan Airlines GroupJapan · Network airline group | 43.7M | 2025 |
| 27 | Pegasus AirlinesTürkiye · Low-cost carrier | 43.3M | 2025 |
| 28 | Xiamen AirChina · Network carrier | 43.1M | 2025 |
| 29 | JetBlue AirwaysUnited States · Hybrid carrier | 39.3M | 2025 |
| 30 | Singapore Airlines GroupSingapore · Network airline group | 39.0M | 2025 |
| 31 | Avianca GroupColombia / regional · Network airline group | 38.0M | 2024 |
| 32 | SaudiaSaudi Arabia · Network carrier | 37.0M | 2025 |
| 33 | Cathay Pacific GroupHong Kong · Network airline group | 36.8M | 2025 |
| 34 | All Nippon Airways GroupJapan · Network airline group | 35.5M | 2025 |
| 35 | GOL Linhas AéreasBrazil · Low-cost / hybrid carrier | 34.3M | 2025 |
| 36 | Frontier AirlinesUnited States · Ultra-low-cost carrier | 33.3M | 2024 |
| 37 | Azul Linhas AéreasBrazil · Hybrid carrier | 31.7M | 2025 |
| 38 | VolarisMexico · Ultra-low-cost carrier | 29.5M | 2024 |
| 39 | Viva AerobusMexico · Ultra-low-cost carrier | 27.7M | 2024 |
| 40 | Norwegian Air ShuttleNorway · Low-cost carrier | 27.3M | 2025 |
| 41 | VietJet AirVietnam · Low-cost carrier | 25.9M | 2025 |
| 42 | AeroméxicoMexico · Network carrier | 25.3M | 2024 |
| 43 | Cebu PacificPhilippines · Low-cost carrier | 24.5M | 2025 |
| 44 | Garuda Indonesia GroupIndonesia · Network airline group | 23.7M | 2025 |
| 45 | Korean AirSouth Korea · Network carrier | 23.5M | 2025 |
| 46 | Vietnam Airlines GroupVietnam · Network airline group | 23.1M | 2025 |
| 47 | Etihad AirwaysUnited Arab Emirates · Global network carrier | 22.4M | 2025 |
| 48 | SAS GroupScandinavia · Network airline group | 21.1M | 2025 |
| 49 | Virgin Australia HoldingsAustralia · Network airline group | 20.7M | 2024 |
| 50 | TUI Group airlinesGermany / UK / Europe · Leisure airline group | 20.2M | 2025 |
| 51 | Jet2.comUnited Kingdom · Leisure low-cost carrier | 19.2M | 2025 |
| 52 | Ethiopian AirlinesEthiopia · Network carrier | 19.0M | 2025 |
| 53 | Air Arabia GroupUnited Arab Emirates / regional · Low-cost group | 18.8M | 2025 |
| 54 | Allegiant AirUnited States · Leisure low-cost carrier | 18.5M | 2025 |
| 55 | Aegean AirlinesGreece · Network / leisure carrier | 17.3M | 2025 |
| 56 | TAP Air PortugalPortugal · Network carrier | 16.7M | 2025 |
| 57 | Malaysia Airlines GroupMalaysia · Network airline group | 16.6M | 2025 |
| 58 | ITA AirwaysItaly · Network carrier | 16.2M | 2025 |
| 59 | Air New ZealandNew Zealand · Network carrier | 16.2M | 2024 |
| 60 | Thai Airways InternationalThailand · Network carrier | 16.1M | 2025 |
| 61 | SunExpressTürkiye / Germany · Leisure carrier | 16.0M | 2025 |
| 62 | Philippine AirlinesPhilippines · Network carrier | 15.6M | 2025 |
| 63 | FlydubaiUnited Arab Emirates · Hybrid carrier | 15.4M | 2025 |
| 64 | Jeju AirSouth Korea · Low-cost carrier | 13.4M | 2025 |
| 65 | EVA AirTaiwan · Network carrier | 13.2M | 2025 |
| 66 | S7 AirlinesRussia · Network carrier | 12.8M | 2025 |
| 67 | Air EuropaSpain · Network / leisure carrier | 12.0M | 2025 |
| 68 | FinnairFinland · Network carrier | 11.9M | 2025 |
| 69 | LOT Polish AirlinesPoland · Network carrier | 11.7M | 2025 |
| 70 | VoloteaSpain · Low-cost regional carrier | 11.3M | 2025 |
| 71 | Hawaiian AirlinesUnited States · Standalone latest public figure before integration | 10.9M | 2023 |
| 72 | EgyptAirEgypt · Network carrier | 10.3M | 2024 |
| 73 | Air Astana GroupKazakhstan · Network airline group | 9.7M | 2025 |
| 74 | CondorGermany · Leisure carrier | 9.6M | 2025 |
| 75 | China Airlines GroupTaiwan · Network airline group | 9.5M | 2025 |
| 76 | FlySafairSouth Africa · Low-cost carrier | 9.0M | 2024 |
| 77 | AirBalticLatvia · Network / hybrid carrier | 8.7M | 2025 |
| 78 | Ural AirlinesRussia · Network carrier | 8.4M | 2025 |
| 79 | Smartwings GroupCzechia / Central Europe · Leisure / charter group | 8.3M | 2025 |
| 80 | Air AlgérieAlgeria · Network carrier | 7.9M | 2024 |
| 81 | SpiceJetIndia · Low-cost carrier | 7.6M | 2025 |
| 82 | Akasa AirIndia · Low-cost carrier | 7.6M | 2025 |
| 83 | Royal Air MarocMorocco · Network carrier | 7.4M | 2024 |
| 84 | Uzbekistan AirwaysUzbekistan · Network carrier | 6.6M | 2025 |
| 85 | UTair AviationRussia · Regional / network carrier | 6.4M | 2025 |
| 86 | Virgin AtlanticUnited Kingdom · Long-haul network carrier | 6.0M | 2025 |
| 87 | Binter CanariasSpain · Regional carrier | 5.6M | 2025 |
| 88 | Oman AirOman · Network carrier | 5.4M | 2025 |
| 89 | Kenya AirwaysKenya · Network carrier | 5.2M | 2024 |
| 90 | Icelandair GroupIceland · Network carrier | 5.1M | 2025 |
| 91 | Sky ExpressGreece · Regional / hybrid carrier | 5.0M | 2025 |
| 92 | Air SerbiaSerbia · Network carrier | 4.6M | 2025 |
| 93 | Sun Country AirlinesUnited States · Leisure carrier | 4.5M | 2024 |
| 94 | Bangkok AirwaysThailand · Regional carrier | 4.3M | 2025 |
| 95 | Nordwind AirlinesRussia · Leisure / charter carrier | 4.3M | 2024 |
| 96 | Azerbaijan AirlinesAzerbaijan · Network carrier | 4.0M | 2024 |
| 97 | WiderøeNorway · Regional carrier | 3.8M | 2025 |
| 98 | Royal JordanianJordan · Network carrier | 3.7M | 2025 |
| 99 | SriLankan AirlinesSri Lanka · Network carrier | 3.6M | 2024 |
| 100 | Starlux AirlinesTaiwan · Network carrier | 3.5M | 2025 |
Table basis: latest annual passenger totals publicly available by May 2, 2026. Most values refer to 2025 or 2024; a small number use the latest separately reported year where later group integration or reporting gaps make a newer like-for-like total unavailable. Ryanair’s 206.4M figure is treated on a traffic-statistics basis rather than as a directly comparable fiscal-year annual-report figure. Because reporting calendars differ, close rank positions should be read as approximate rather than exact like-for-like comparisons. Values are rounded to one decimal million.
Chart: passenger volume gap across the Top 10
The gap between the first and tenth ranked carriers is more than 100 million passengers. That spread matters because the top tier includes several different operating models: U.S. legacy groups, Chinese state-linked groups, European low-cost airlines, a large European multi-brand group and India’s fast-growing IndiGo.
- American Airlines Group — 223.5M
- Ryanair Group — 206.4M
- Delta Air Lines — 200.0M
- United Airlines Holdings — 181.1M
- Southwest Airlines — 168.3M
- China Southern Airlines — 164.7M
- Air China — 155.3M
- China Eastern Airlines — 140.6M
- Lufthansa Group — 135.0M
- IndiGo — 123.0M
The chart repeats the Top 10 table values to make the passenger gap easier to compare.
Methodology: how the ranking was built
The indicator is annual passengers carried, usually reported as passenger boardings, enplaned passengers or transported passengers. The unit is millions of passengers. This is not the same as revenue passenger-kilometers, available seat-kilometers, seats, departures or unique travelers. A passenger who connects through a hub may generate more than one boarding, depending on how the airline reports segment traffic.
The ranking uses the latest complete annual reporting period available by May 2, 2026. Calendar-year, fiscal-year and group-level reporting are not always identical. Where an airline or group had already published a 2025 annual or fiscal-year total, the 2025 value is used. Where a 2025 comparable value was not yet public, the 2024 annual total is used. In a few cases, especially where airline ownership changed or a standalone figure was not yet updated, the latest separately reported annual number is retained and marked by its data year in the table.
The table mixes airline groups, holdings and standalone carriers because passenger traffic is often reported at group level. This is especially important for Lufthansa Group, IAG, Air France-KLM, Qantas Group, LATAM, AirAsia Group, Air India Group and similar multi-brand structures. Subsidiaries are not separately listed when their traffic is already included in a group total, because that would double-count passengers.
Values are rounded to one decimal million for readability. Close rankings should therefore be interpreted cautiously: a carrier shown at 55.3M may be separated from another carrier by only a few tens of thousands of passengers in the original filing, while another may use a different fiscal year or group boundary. The ranking also does not adjust for distance flown. A short-haul low-cost airline can rank above a long-haul global airline because it handles many more boardings even if the long-haul airline produces more passenger-kilometers or higher revenue per passenger.
The ranking excludes cargo-only airlines, airport passenger totals, alliance-level totals and country-level traffic totals. It is useful for understanding airline operating scale, network intensity and market reach, but it is not a measure of airline quality, profitability, punctuality, safety, emissions efficiency or customer satisfaction.
Insights from the 2026 passenger-count hierarchy
North America and China dominate the very top because their domestic markets support frequent, high-volume networks. This is why American, Delta, United, Southwest and the three largest Chinese airline groups sit near the top even though their route structures differ sharply.
Ryanair, IndiGo, easyJet, Wizz Air, Southwest and several Latin American and Mexican low-cost carriers rank highly because passenger count rewards frequency, dense seating and short-haul repeat flying.
Emirates, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Etihad are strategically important global connectors, but their long-haul networks produce fewer boardings than domestic or short-haul carriers of similar fleet size.
Ranks 40–70 include national flag carriers, leisure airlines, regional groups and fast-growing low-cost operators. This part of the table is where tourism flows, aircraft availability and domestic market growth can quickly change positions.
Their largest carriers are important for connectivity, but smaller home markets and longer stage lengths mean fewer annual boardings than carriers in the United States, China, Europe or India.
What this means for readers
Passenger-count rankings are useful when a reader wants to understand airline scale in practical terms: how many people a carrier moves, how dense its network is and how strongly it participates in everyday mobility. For travelers, a high passenger count often signals broad route availability and frequent service, but it does not guarantee the lowest fare, best punctuality or strongest customer experience.
For analysts, the ranking helps separate three types of airline size. Some carriers are large because they dominate domestic travel. Some are large because they run dense short-haul networks. Others are large because they consolidate multiple brands inside a holding company. Treating all three as the same kind of “large airline” would miss the business logic behind the numbers.
The ranking works best when compared with other airline indicators. Passenger traffic should be read alongside revenue, load factor, RPK, aircraft utilization, operating margin, network geography and customer outcomes. A carrier with fewer passengers can still be more profitable, more internationally connected or more strategically important than a carrier with more boardings.
FAQ
Does “passengers carried” mean unique travelers?
No. It usually means passenger boardings or transported passengers. A person who flies several times during the year can be counted several times. A connecting trip may also create more than one passenger segment depending on reporting practice.
Why is this called a 2026 snapshot if many values are from 2025 or 2024?
Because full-year 2026 passenger traffic is not yet known. The snapshot uses the newest complete annual data available by May 2, 2026, so the year in the title refers to the publication snapshot, not a completed calendar year.
Why are airline groups and individual airlines mixed?
Airline traffic is often reported at group level. A group such as Lufthansa Group, IAG, Qantas Group or LATAM may include several brands. Listing the subsidiaries again would double-count passengers, so the table follows the reporting unit used in the public traffic data.
Why do some famous long-haul airlines rank below low-cost carriers?
Passenger count rewards boardings, not distance. A low-cost airline flying many short routes can carry more passengers than a long-haul airline flying fewer, longer routes. For long-haul scale, RPK or ASK is often a better metric.
Is this ranking the same as airline revenue ranking?
No. Revenue depends on fares, cabin mix, cargo, loyalty programs, route distance and premium demand. Passenger count shows traffic volume, while revenue ranking shows commercial scale in monetary terms.
Can the ranking change quickly?
Yes. Aircraft delivery delays, mergers, bankruptcies, route cuts, fuel prices, tourism demand and domestic market growth can all move airlines by several positions. This is especially true in the middle of the table, where many carriers are separated by only a few million passengers.
Sources
The ranking is compiled from airline annual reports, investor traffic releases, aviation regulator publications and international aviation statistics. Values are company-reported where available and otherwise rounded from the latest public traffic disclosures. The links below document the passenger metric, airline traffic reporting and broader aviation-market context.
- IATA — World Air Transport Statistics Used for industry definitions, airline traffic context and the annual framework for passenger and cargo statistics. https://www.iata.org/en/services/data/market-data/world-air-transport-statistics/
- IATA — 2024 World Air Transport Statistics release Used to confirm that the latest WATS release covers 2024 data and includes more than 240 international airlines. https://www.iata.org/en/pressroom/2025-releases/2025-08-04-01/
- ICAO — Annual Report 2024, World of Air Transport Used for global air transport context, long-term traffic framing and aviation-system comparability. https://www.icao.int/about-icao/AnnualReport2024/world-air-transport-2024
- ACI World and ICAO — Passenger Traffic Report, Trends and Outlook Used for global passenger traffic context and the recovery benchmark around 2024–2025 air travel demand. https://aci.aero/2025/01/28/joint-aci-world-icao-passenger-traffic-report-trends-and-outlook/
- Ryanair Holdings — Traffic statistics Used for Ryanair Group annual passenger totals and low-cost carrier trend validation. https://investor.ryanair.com/traffic/
- Lufthansa Group — Traffic figures Used for group-level European network airline passenger totals and reporting structure. https://investor-relations.lufthansagroup.com/en/publications/traffic-figures.html
- International Airlines Group — Traffic statistics Used for IAG group passenger reporting across British Airways, Iberia, Vueling, Aer Lingus and related operations. https://www.iairgroup.com/en/investors-and-shareholders/traffic-statistics
- Turkish Airlines — Investor relations traffic results Used for annual passenger traffic and network-scale validation for Turkish Airlines. https://investor.turkishairlines.com/en/financial-operational/traffic-results
- LATAM Airlines Group — Traffic releases Used for LATAM passenger totals and Latin American group-level traffic context. https://ir.latam.com/English/results-center/traffic-releases/default.aspx
- Qantas Group — Investor results centre Used for Qantas and Jetstar group passenger reporting and Oceania market context. https://investor.qantas.com/investors/?page=result-centre
- World Bank — Air transport, passengers carried Used as a country-level cross-check for the definition of air passengers carried and scheduled traffic reporting. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IS.AIR.PSGR
