The airline industry had many technological advancements that permeated in other different industries. In 2019, $876 billion were spent on air transport globally, however as the COVID-19 pandemic happened it caused many carriers to be grounded, companies going bankrupt, and retrenchment. Many countries still have lots of travel restrictions, and since we are not close to the end yet it will take a while before these companies will get back on their feet.
Insider Monkey published 15 Most Valuable Airline Companies. Below is a summary, divided into which region these airlines are based.
American
Alaska Air Group owns Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air and they have 24,000 employees. American Airlines was heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as they lost $2.2 billion in sales. In terms of number of passengers, American Airlines is considered to be the biggest airline in the world.
United Airlines is the founder member of Star Alliance, the biggest airline alliance in the world. It is the biggest airline in the world in terms of fleet size and number of routes. Delta Airlines is considered to be a big airline because of the number of passengers they ferry and because of their fleet size.
Southwest Airlines is the most valuable airline company today. It is the biggest domestic carrier in the United States with almost 4,000 flights a day. The market cap is at $36.031 billion
Asian
Based in Seoul, Korean Air serves 126 destinations across the world. It has a fleet size of 159 aircrafts. The first Japanese airline on this list, Japan Airlines is the country’s flag carrier. It services 225 destinations and has 279 aircrafts.
The Chinese government owns the majority of China Eastern Airline Corporation. Established in 1988, right now they have 577 aircrafts and are serving 250 destinations.
All Nippon Airways or ANA is the biggest airline in Japan both in number of passengers and with revenue and they also have 46,000 employees globally. Singapore Airlines has $8.6 billion in revenue and 141 aircrafts in their fleet.
China Southern, known before as CAAC Airlines, operates at least 2,000 flights to 200 different destinations daily. Air China, which on average carries 100 million passengers, is a member of Star Alliance. Currently they have 440 aircrafts.
European
Founded in 1953, Lufthansa is one of the biggest airlines in the world with at least 700 carriers.
International Airlines Group is the parent company of British Airways and Iberia and is one of the more recent companies in this list as it was only established in 2011.
RyanAir is the only budget airline on this list while not the best. It had a history of poor working conditions and lots of hidden charges. The market cap is at $21.939 billion
Read more on Insider Monkey’s 15 Most Valuable Airline Companies here.
