Delta remains world’s biggest airline
Guest Writers are not employed, compensated or governed by TD, opinions and statements are from the specific writer directly
Delta Air Lines carried more than 164 million passengers last year, cementing its place as the world’s biggest airline in terms of passenger traffic.
The Atlanta-based carrier’s total of 164.66m boarded passengers was almost identical to 2012, and ensured Delta cemented its position as world’s most travelled airline. Chicago-based United Airlines was second, with 139.21m passengers – 1% more than 2012. Despite a 1% dip in traffic in 2013, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines is expected to remain the world’s third biggest airline, with 133.16m passengers.
American Airlines remains in fourth place, having carried 108.74m passengers last year, marking a 1% increase compared to 2012. Its merger with US Airways however, could propel American to the top of the charts next year. US Airways boarded 51.95m passengers in the first 11 months of the year – more than Emirates.
The dominance of US-based carriers reflects the continued strength and importance of the country’s aviation market. The US handled more than 600 million domestic passengers in 2012, making it by far the world’s largest domestic aviation market.
And according to IATA, the US will hold this leadership position at least until 2017, by which time it is expected to handle 677.8 million domestic passengers.
The world’s biggest non-American airline in 2013 was China Southern Airlines, which carried 91.8m passengers (+6.1% compared to 2012), ahead of Air China and Lufthansa, both of which carried approximately 71m passengers in the first 11 months of the year.
According to IATA, the world’s airlines carried approximately 3.1 billion passengers in 2013, and this is expected to rise 6% to 3.3bn in 2014.
Comments are closed.