As the aviation aftermarket world descends into Orlando, Florida, for the 2026 edition of MRO Americas, this week’s Flight Friday looks at the largest four U.S. operators by fleet size, and how their utilization (flight cycles) in the first quarter of 2026 compares to the equivalent time periods in both 2019 and 2025.
For American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Southwest, the data shows their indexed utilization remains reasonably consistent with that of 2019 levels, even with each of their in-service fleet (ISF) now being approximately 100 more.
The big change looking at 2019 is the uptick by United Airlines. The airline has increased its ISF by 300 aircraft since March 2019, which is an over 40% increase in fleet size, leading to an increase in utilization of a third.
When comparing the first-quarter 2026 figures to 2025, the difference is less pronounced. The increase in ISF is relatively small, and the utilization remains consistent. This helps lead us to the conclusion that for these operators at least, 2025 can become the “new utilization benchmark” and 2019 can become a distant memory.
This data was put together using Aviation Week’s Tracked Aircraft Utilization database.
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