World Airline Report: Top Five Airlines by Operating Revenue

American Airlines may be the largest airline by size, but Delta Air Lines is the world’s most profitable carrier—by a long way. Lufthansa, Air France-KLM and United Airlines also beat American in terms of profit.

The year-over-year increase in profit (from large, pandemic-related losses) at Lufthansa and Air France-KLM illustrate the critical importance of the lifting of COVID travel restrictions in the transatlantic market.

A quarter of the top 100 airlines by operating revenue remained in the red, however, with China’s major airlines seeing huge losses.

Even where airlines have returned to profitability, the margins are razor thin in almost all cases. The air transport industry is growing again, but remains financially weak.

ATW Magazine July/August Edition

ATW Magaine's July/August edition will feature the exclusive Annual World Airline Report, including:

- Financials and traffic data for world’s 100 largest airlines
- Traffic data for world’s largest airports
- Fleet data for world’s 100 largest airlines
- Analysis of the airline industry status by geographic region

Find out more.