Ranked: The World’s Busiest Airlines by Flights

Ranked: The World’s Busiest Airlines by Flights

This graphic ranks the world’s major airlines by scheduled one-way flight frequency in 2024, based on the OAG Takeoff Airlines Ranking Report 2025. Flight frequency measures scheduled flights rather than passenger traffic, seat capacity, or revenue.

U.S. Airlines Dominate Flight Frequency

The table below shows scheduled one-way flights for the 20 major airlines covered by OAG.

Rank	Airline Name	Country of Origin	2024 Scheduled One-Way Flights
1	American Airlines	United States	2,177,424
2	Delta Air Lines	United States	1,713,537
3	United Airlines	United States	1,618,842
4	Southwest Airlines	United States	1,452,219
5	Ryanair	Ireland	1,098,831
6	China Eastern Airlines	China	872,723
7	China Southern Airlines	China	828,452
8	IndiGo	India	749,156
9	Air China	China	622,505
10	easyJet	United Kingdom	569,588
11	LATAM Airlines Group	Chile	553,191
12	Alaska Airlines	United States	434,657
13	Deutsche Lufthansa AG	Germany	421,254
14	Turkish Airlines	Türkiye	398,681
15	Air Canada	Canada	385,765
16	All Nippon Airways	Japan	320,042
17	British Airways	United Kingdom	310,518
18	Spirit Airlines	United States	291,178
19	Qatar Airways	Qatar	200,385
20	Emirates	United Arab Emirates	172,445

The gap between the U.S. leaders and most international carriers is substantial. Fourth-ranked Southwest operated 1.45 million scheduled flights, about 32% more than Ryanair in fifth place. Across the full ranking, the six U.S. carriers listed operated nearly 7.7 million flights.

American’s scale reflects its enormous U.S. network: 82.6% of its 2024 capacity was domestic, according to OAG. Its hub-and-spoke system also concentrates traffic through major connecting airports, including Dallas-Fort Worth, where American held 81% of airline capacity. Large networks are also supported by global partnerships through the world’s three major airline alliances.

Ryanair Leads Europe’s Low-Cost Model

Ireland-based Ryanair ranks fifth globally with 1.10 million flights, almost twice easyJet’s 570,000. Its scale highlights the reach of the low-cost model in Europe.

Budget carriers can keep fares down through high aircraft utilization, rapid turnarounds, point-to-point networks, secondary airports, and unbundled extras. Ryanair’s strategy historically drew inspiration from Southwest Airlines, showing how the low-cost model crossed the Atlantic as European aviation developed around dense networks of relatively short international routes.

Despite the rise of low-cost airlines, most of the world’s busiest carriers by flight frequency are still full-service legacy airlines. The ranking also reflects the broad geographic expansion of commercial aviation since the early jet age, alongside improvements in the industry’s long-term safety record.

Asia Has a Strong Presence in the Top 10

China Eastern ranks sixth with 873,000 flights, followed by China Southern at 828,000 and India’s IndiGo at 749,000. Air China, with 623,000 flights, gives Asia four positions in the global top nine.

OAG data also shows rapid momentum among several Asian carriers. IndiGo’s flight frequency grew 9.7% year over year in 2024, the strongest annual growth among the top 20, while Air China grew 8.1%. The figures highlight the importance of large domestic aviation markets alongside the international networks often associated with major global airlines.

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For another look at the economics of global aviation, see The Top Airline Routes by Revenue, which ranks major routes based on OAG revenue data.

• Source: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/worlds-busiest-airlines-by-flights/