world's largest airlines logo.

There are several methods to measure the size of an airline, so several different lists of the world's largest airlines are available.

By scheduled passengers

Scheduled passengers carried

Delta Air Lines Boeing 747

Rank	Airline	2009	2008	2007	2006	2005
1	Delta Air Lines	161,049,000	106,070,000	72,900,000	73,584,000	86,007,000
2	Southwest Airlines	101,339,000	101,921,000	101,911,000	96,277,000	88,380,000
3	American Airlines	85,719,000	92,772,000	98,162,000	99,835,000	98,038,000
4	United Airlines	81,421,000	86,412,000	68,400,000	69,265,000	66,717,000
5	Lufthansa	76,543,000	70,543,000	66,100,000	53,400,000	51,300,000
6	Air France-KLM	71,394,000	73,844,000	74,795,000	73,484,000	70,015,000
7	China Southern  Airlines	66,280,000	57,961,000	56,900,000	48,512,000	43,228,000
8	Ryanair	65,300,000	57,647,000	49,030,000	40,532,000
9	Continental Airlines	62,809,000	66,692,000	53,700,000	55,925,000	57,547,000
10	US Airways	51,016,000	54,776,000

Notes

• Based on International Air Transport Association and individual companies' published figures
• 1 United will become the world's largest carrier when operations with Continental Airlines are complete
• 2 numbers include Swiss International Air Lines since 2007, Austrian Airlines and bmi since 2009
• 3 numbers according to fiscal year, which ends in March
• 4 includes Northwest Airlines since 2009, regional affiliates since 2008

Scheduled international passengers carried

Ryanair Boeing 737-800 shortly after takeoff

Rank	Airline	2009 (thousands)	2008 (thousands)	2007 (thousands)
1	Ryanair	66,500	57,647	49,030	Fiscal year ended March 31, 2010
2	Lufthansa	55,589	42,151	41,322	Includes Lufthansa Regional and Lufthansa Italia
3	EasyJet	45,164	35,417	30,173	Fiscal
4	Air France	31,256	32,508	31,549	Fiscal year ended March 31, 2010
5	British Airways	27,844	29,054	28,302
6	Emirates	27,454	22,444	20,448	Fiscal year ended March 31, 2010
7	Cathay Pacific	24,558	18,860	17,447
8	KLM	22,333	23,808	23,165
9	American Airlines	19,514	21,154	21,479
10	Singapore Airlines	16,480	19,142	18,957	Fiscal year ended March 31, 2010