Based in Seattle, Alaska Airlines has flights to more than one hundred destinations in the United States, Canada, Costa Rica and Mexico. It currently has a fleet of 151 active aircraft with 27 leased and 124 owned. The airline beat JetBlue in bidding to acquire Virgin America.
No. 9 - Republic Airlines
Credit: Republic Airlines
Founded in 1998, Republic Airlines is a regional airline subsidiary of Republic Airways Holdings. It currently has a fleet of 153 active aircraft with two in storage. The airline leases 54 aircraft and owns 101 aircraft.
No. 8 - Air Canada
Credit: Air Canada
Canada’s flag carrier Air Canada was founded in 1937. The airline provides scheduled and charter air transport for passengers and cargo to 182 global destinations. It currently has a fleet of 167 active aircraft with 107 leased and 60 owned.
No. 7 - JetBlue
Credit: JetBlue
JetBlue Airways is a low-cost airline with its main base at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. It currently has 217 active aircraft with 53 leased and 164 owned.
No. 6 - ExpressJet Airlines
Credit: ExpressJet Airlines
Based in College Park, Georgia, ExpressJet Airlines is a wholly owned subsidiary of SkyWest. ExpressJet currently has 313 active aircraft with 45 in storage. The airline leases 292 aircraft and owns 66 aircraft.
No. 5 - Skywest Airlines
Credit: Skywest Airlines
SkyWest airlines is headquartered in St. George, Utah. It currently has 351 active aircraft with 29 in storage. The fleet consists of 229 leased and 151 owned aircraft.
No. 4 – Southwest Airlines
Credit: Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines is a low-cost carrier and is headquartered in Dallas. Southwest Airlines has used only Boeing 737s (except a few years in 1970s and 1980s when the airline leased a few Boeing 727s). The current all-Boeing fleet consists of 712 active aircraft with 128 leased and 584 owned.
No. 3 – United Airlines
Credit: United Airlines
Headquartered in Chicago, United Airlines operates from nine hubs in the continental U.S., Guam and Japan. It currently has a fleet of 719 active aircraft with 17 aircraft in storage. The airline has 227 leased and 509 owned aircraft.
No. 2 - Delta Air Lines
Credit: Delta Air Lines
With its headquarters and largest hub at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Delta Air Lines’ fleet consists of 821 active aircraft and 107 in storage. The fleet consists of 295 leased and 633 owned aircraft.
No. 1 - American Airlines
Credit: American Airlines
Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, American Airlines operates extensive international and US domestic flights. American Airlines had operated an all-Boeing fleet (after retiring its last Airbus A300 in 2009), but in 2011 the airline took options for both Airbus and Boeing aircraft and today has a fleet of 943 active aircraft and 58 in storage. The fleet consists of 449 leased and 552 owned aircraft.
List of the top ten North American airlines, scheduled and non-scheduled, by fleet size in 2016, according to Aviation Week's Fleet Discovery data.
