15 most valuable airline companies, according market capitalization.

Globally, at least 2,000 airlines are currently in operation, with many more having become defunct. These 2,000 airlines are in charge of more than 23,000 aircraft which provide service to at least 3,700 airports across the world if not more. In 2019, $876 billion were spent on air transport at a global level, which makes up around 1% of the world’s GDP and recorded a 3.6% increase over the previous year, which was a massive achievement.

See also: Southwest Airlines resumed flights with Boeing 737 Max.

You can’t really mention the airline industry today without talking about the devastating impact of Covid-19 on the world’s economy and the airline industry in particular. The link between the two? Well, countries went into lockdowns to stop the spread of the virus with international and domestic travel both suffering. Even now, a year into the pandemic, most countries have severe restrictions on international.

See also: Delta and Latam receive final approval in Brazil for commercial agreement.

Despite the massive losses incurred by most airlines in the world, perhaps the 15 most valuable airlines in the world are in the best position to make it through the biggest pandemic in a century. Insider Monkey ranking is based on the market capitalization of each company, with details taken from Yahoo Finance. Due to this methodology, it has had to exclude domestic airlines that are privately held, but are certainly among the largest in the world, especially those based in the Middle East, such as Etihad Airways, Emirates Airlines and Qatar Airways.

These are the 15 airlines at the top:

15. Lufthansa

Market cap of the company in March 2021 (in billions of dollars): 8.24

Founded 68 years ago in 1953, the company owns Lufthansa Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Swiss International Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings. The group has one of the biggest airlines in the world, with at least 700 aircraft.

14. Alaska Air Group

Market cap of the company in March 2021 (in billions of dollars): 8.803

Alaska Air Group owns two major airlines, Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, and was founded 36 years ago in 1985. The company has around 24,000 employees.

13. Korean Air

Market cap of the company in March 2021 (in billions of dollars): 8.97

Korean Air came into existence 52 years ago in 1969 and is the flag carrier of South Korea, one of the most advanced Asian countries in the world. It is headquartered in Seoul and serves 126 destinations in more than 40 countries across the globes and has 13 domestic divisions as well. The airline’s fleet size has 159 aircraft.

12. Japan Airlines

Market cap of the company in March 2021 (in billions of dollars): 10.905

One of only two Japanese airlines in our list, Japan Airlines is headquartered in Tokyo and is Japan’s flag carrier. The company was incorporated 69 years ago in 1951 and provides services to 225 destinations in at least 30 countries across the world. The airlines have a fleet of 279 aircraft.

11. China Eastern Airlines Corporation

Market cap of the company in March 2021 (in billions of dollars): 11.928

China Eastern Airlines Corporation came into existence in 1988 and has a fleet of more than 577 aircraft while serving nearly 250 destinations worldwide. It is headquartered in Shanghai with the government having the majority ownership of the airline company.

10. Ana Holdings

Market cap of the company in March 2021 (in billions of dollars): 12.1

All Nippon Airways is the biggest airline in Japan both in terms of revenue and in terms of passengers as well. It was founded 68 years ago in 1952 and has around 46,000 employees across the world.

9. Singapore Airlines

Market cap of the company in March 2021 (in billions of dollars): 12.542

Singapore is the business center of the world so it comes as no surprise that its national air carrier is one of the most valuable airline companies. The company has at least 141 aircraft in its fleet and its revenues exceeded $8.6 billion.

8. International Airlines Group

Market cap of the company in March 2021 (in billions of dollars): 14.24

The company is the parent of British Airway and Iberia, the carriers of the United Kingdom and Spain respectively, and came into existence 10 years ago in 2011. The company has also purchased other airlines which include BMI, Aer Lingus , Air Europa and Vueling in the decade since it came into being and is listed in both the London Stock Exchange and the Madrid Stock Exchange.

7. China Southern

Market cap of the company in March 2021 (in billions of dollars): 14.911

China Southern is headquartered in Guangzhou and was established 32 years ago in 1988 after the restructuring of CAAC Airlines. The company operates more than 2,000 flights to at least 200 destinations daily.

6. American Airlines Group

Market cap of the company in March 2021 (in billions of dollars): 15.973

Surprisingly, American Airlines doesn’t make the top 5 most valuable airlines even though the company had more than $45 billion in sales as well as total assets of nearly $60 billion and has more than 133,000 employees. And this is also despite the fact that in terms of number of passengers, American Airlines is considered to be the biggest airline in the world. However, the airline was impacted significantly by the Covid-19 pandemic and lost $2.2 billion in Q1’20.

5. Air China

Market cap of the company in March 2021 (in billions of dollars): 18.12

It is one of the big three Chinese airlines, which carried more than 100 million passengers, both domestically and internationally, back in 2017. The company was only founded 33 years ago in 1988 and is part of Star Alliance, the biggest alliance of airlines in the world. The company has more than 440 aircraft at its disposal and is headquartered in Beijing.

4. United Airlines

Market cap of the company in March 2021 (in billions of dollars): 19.354

United Airlines has operations not just across the United States, but on five continents as well. In terms of fleet size and number of routes, it is considered to be the third biggest airline in the world, though by market cap, it is actually just the fourth most valuable airline in the world right now, and has eight hubs with the Chicago O’Hare airport being the largest hub of them all. It is also said to be a founding member of the Star Alliance, which is the biggest airline alliance in the world itself with 28 airlines as members.

3. Ryanair

Market cap of the company in March 2021 (in billions of dollars): 21.939

Ryanair is one of the most popular budget airlines in the world. In 2016, it was named as the biggest European budget airline in terms of passengers. It is especially popular for its rapid expansion ever since Europe deregulated the airline industry back in 1997. However, it has also attracted criticism, especially in recent years, for poor working conditions and misleading customers into incurring extra charges, thereby making the flight actually more expensive than other, better options.

2. Delta Air Lines

Market cap of the company in March 2021 (in billions of dollars): 31.231

Considered one of the biggest airlines in the United States, Delta Air Lines has nine hubs with the biggest being in Atlanta if you consider the number of passengers and the fleet size as well. The company commenced operations back in 1925, 96 years ago and recorded revenue of more than $47 billion in 2019, while the net income was more than $4.7 billion.

1. Southwest Airlines

Market cap of the company in March 2021 (in billions of dollars): 36.031

Surprisingly surpassing the biggest airlines in the US such as Delta and American Airlines is Southwest Airlines, which takes the first position in the 5 most valuable airline companies in the world. Southwest is headquartered in Dallas, Texas and provides services to at least 111 destinations in just the United States alone. It is also the biggest carrier in the United States in terms of domestic passengers. The company has nearly 60,000 employees and has more than 4,000 flights a day at its peak.

Related Topics