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.
1×
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
The race in numbers
5lead changes
54years covered
16contenders
Deltalongest reign — 23 yrs at #1
Final standings · 2024
- 1American226M pax
- 2Delta200M pax
- 3Ryanair197M pax
- 4United174M pax
- 5Southwest174M pax