Science & Infrastructure1970–2024
World's Largest Airlines
Annual passengers carried by the world's biggest airlines since 1970. Soviet Aeroflot towers over everyone at ~130M a year until the USSR shatters it overnight, Pan Am, Eastern and TWA vanish, and the low-cost upstarts Southwest, Ryanair and IndiGo climb from nothing to the top of the board — with a cliff-edge COVID crater along the way.
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Source: IATA World Air Transport Statistics Figures reconstructed from IATA World Air Transport Statistics and airline annual reports; interpolated between reporting years and rounded to the nearest million. illustrative data Updated 2026-07-07