Who holds the cards? The world’s largest airlines, commercial jet manufacturers
It is only while researching which companies are among the world’s largest airlines and commercial aircraft manufacturers that you realize how difficult it is to find a suitable metric that compares them on an equal playing field.
What’s more, with some airlines operating as publicly traded organizations and others as private firms, there is contrasting available data that demonstrates a true comparison.
When judging airlines, you could compare their fleet sizes or the number of destinations they fly to, but this would omit the aircraft manufacturers.
Market capitalization, or market cap for short, is understood to be one of the most universally accepted methods to assess a company’s equity and size.
According to the Harvard Business School, market cap is one of the “simplest ways to measure a company’s value”.
Specifically, the market cap is the total value of its outstanding shares, effectively reflecting the market’s valuation of the company.
“It’s calculated by multiplying the total number of shares by the current share price,” the Harvard Business School explains.
A potential drawback of using a company’s market cap is that the information is only available for airlines and jet manufacturers that are publicly trading.
So, to establish which are the largest airlines and commercial aircraft manufacturers, both public and private, revenues can also be a useful gage.
Let’s look at what the data reveals:
The top 10 largest airlines and commercial jet manufacturers by market cap
According to data provider Companies Market Cap, there are currently 71 airlines who trade publicly and while there are 18 aircraft manufacturers only two are focused on commercial jets.
Airbus
Dr_Flash / Shutterstock.comMarket cap: $181.61 billion (as of September 2025)
Position: 1
Position among all companies: 86
Founded: 1970
Employees: 157,894
Headquarters: European Union
Products: Commercial, business, helicopter, defense and space
During its 55-year history, Airbus has grown to become one of the world’s largest companies and the dominant force among publicly registered airlines and commercial aircraft manufacturers.
Headed by CEO Guillaume Faury, the European aerospace powerhouse has offices and assembly plants across the world including France, United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Canada and the United States.
Airbus is targeting around 820 commercial aircraft deliveries in 2025, but after eight months of the year completed, so far only 420 jets have been received by customers.
While the commercial aviation sector is the company’s focus, Airbus is also heavily involved in military aircraft, business jets, space vehicles and helicopters.
Boeing
Falcons Spotters / Shutterstock Market cap: $163.28 billion (as of September 2025)
Position: 2
Position among all companies: 109
Founded: 1916
Employees: 172,000
Headquarters: United States
Products: Commercial, business, helicopter, defense and space
For decades Boeing was the world’s dominant force in commercial aircraft manufacturing but in recent years it has been overtaken by its European competitor.
While Boeing is undoubtably still a formidable force in commercial aviation the company still suffers from a reputational downfall following a handful of high-profile incidents.
Confidence in Boeing was first damaged in 2018 and 2019 when two 737 MAX jets crashed five months apart. All those aboard the Lion Air and Ethiopians Airlines flights perished in the incident.
Then in January 2024, a door plug separated from an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX midflight, leading to huge questions over Boeing’s safety measures during production and investigations led by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
A new CEO, Kelly Ortberg, was appointed in August 2024 to try and steady the ship and with deliveries up in recent months the company appears to be heading in the right direction.
Delta Air Lines
Karolis Kavolelis / ShutterstockMarket cap: $39.09 billion (as of September 2025)
Position: 3
Position among all companies: 604
Founded: 1925
Employees: 138,100
Headquarters: United States
Products: Commercial
Delta Air Lines is perceived by the public to be the most premium carrier in the US market and leads the pack in terms of revenue among its peers.
Delta began its journey in 1925 as a crop-dusting service called Huff Daland Dusters.
The airline saw major growth through its acquisitions of other airlines including a 2008 merger with Northwest Airlines.
Based at Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport (ATL) the airline has been led by CEO Ed Bastien since 2016.
Delta has close to 1,000 aircraft in its mainline fleet and according to ch-aviation currently has 272 jets on order including 100 Boeing 737-10s, 26 Airbus A350s and 66 A320-300s.
United Airlines
Fasttailwind / Shutterstock.comMarket cap: $34.50 billion (as of September 2025)
Position: 4
Position among all companies: 676
Founded: 1931
Employees: 111,300
Headquarters: United States
Products: Commercial
Taking the fourth position among the world’s largest airlines and commercial jet manufacturers is Chicago-based United Airlines.
The airline has been on quite the journey having filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2002, only to emerge as one of the world’s largest carriers in 2012 through a merger with Continental Airlines.
Boasting the largest mainland fleet in the world with over 1,000 aircraft, United still plans to continue its expansion.
According to ch-aviation, United is awaiting delivery of 673 aircraft including over 140 Boeing 787-9s, nearly 170 737-10s and 156 Airbus A321neos.
Ryanair
Jason Wells / Shutterstock.comMarket cap: $31.09 billion (as of September 2025)
Position: 5
Position among all companies: 737
Founded: 1984
Employees: 26,000
Headquarters: Ireland
Products: Commercial
Ryanair’s colossal rise from flying a single Embraer EMB-110P1 Bandeirante in 1985 to becoming the fifth largest airline is quite astonishing.
While the airline is often criticized for its economical approach to service, no one can dispute that its founders got it right when they decided to offer cheap flights between the UK and Ireland.
While its current CEO Michael O’Leary is famed for his combative approach with governments, he has shown what it takes to build sustainable growth in the aviation sector.
Now Europe’s largest airline both in terms of aircraft fleet size and passengers carried annually, it holds an enviable position in the industry.
InterGlobe Aviation (IndiGo)
Omid Behzadpour / ShutterstockMarket cap: $25.10 billion (as of September 2025)
Position: 6
Position among all companies: 898
Founded: 2005
Employees: 26,164
Headquarters: India
Products: Commercial, freighters
As India’s largest airline, IndiGo is extremely well positioned amongst, what is widely thought, the world’s fastest growing aviation market.
To understand IndiGo’s seismic expansion, you only need to look at how rapidly its yearly passenger numbers have grown.
In 2019, approximately 30 million passengers flew with the airline, while just five years later this had ballooned to 113 million.
The airline went public in October 2015, after being originally established as a private airline by Rahul Bhatia and Rakesh Gangwal.
IndiGo’s first major order came in 2005 when it purchased 100 Airbus A320-200s and 20 years on, the total fleet now stands at over 400 aircraft with 906 aircraft yet to be delivered, according to ch-aviation.
International Airlines Group (IAG)
Miquel Ros / AeroTimeMarket cap: $25.10 billion (as of September 2025)
Position: 7
Position among all companies: 952
Founded: 2011
Employees: 52,762
Headquarters: Spain
Products: Commercial
International Airlines Group (IAG) was formed in 2011 through the merger of British Airways and Iberia, although the history of the two airlines stretches much further back.
Since the merger other airlines have joined the alliance, including Vueling, Aer Lingus and LEVEL, creating a significant force in the aviation sector.
According to investment firm Hargreaves Lansdown, British Airways accounts for around 45% of the company’s operating profits with its strong hold on valuable flight slots in the UK.
Across all its five airlines, IAG operates over 600 aircraft, travelling to 259 destinations in 91 countries.
British Airways alone has 79 aircraft on order while Iberia has 25, Air Vueling has 55 and Aer Lingus has seven.
Air China
Vytautas Kielaitis / Shutterstock.comMarket cap: $16.96 billion (as of September 2025)
Position: 8
Position among all companies: 1,234
Founded: 1988
Employees: 104,000
Headquarters: China
Products: Commercial, freighters
Air China was first established in 1988, after the government broke up the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), which at the time operated as an airline as well as a regulator.
Although the Chinese government holds a majority stake in Air China, the carrier officially went public in 2004 when it was listed on the Hong Kong and London Stock Exchanges.
As well as Air China, China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines have also been registered as publicly traded companies.
Its current fleet includes over 500 aircraft including Boeing, COMAC and Airbus jets. Over 160 aircraft are scheduled to join the fleet including 100 C919s and 49 A321neos.
Southwest Airlines
Ryken Papy / Shutterstock.comMarket cap: $16.62 billion (as of September 2025)
Position: 9
Position among all companies: 1,276
Founded: 1967
Employees: 72,242
Headquarters: United States
Products: Commercial
Southwest Airlines has faced a challenging 12 months, culminating in slightly disappointing financial results earlier this year.
The airline has made several high-profile service changes including a decision to end the free checked baggage policy and to cancel its long-standing open seating policy.
The new approach followed a long running public feud with activist investor Elliott Investment Management who demanded significant changes to the airline, including appointing new board members.
At one stage it was feared that the CEO of Southwest, Bob Jordon, may be forced to resign.
Currently the Southwest fleet stands at almost 800 aircraft with 472 scheduled to be delivered in the future including 386 Boeing 737-7 jets.
Singapore Airlines
Markus Mainka / ShutterstockMarket cap: $15.18 billion (as of September 2025)
Position: 10
Position among all companies: 1,276
Founded: 1947
Employees: 22,819
Headquarters: Singapore
Products: Commercial, freighters
A serial winner of Skytrax’s world’s best carrier, Singapore Airlines has been a trailblazer for the aviation industry and premium service.
Singapore Airlines was the launch customer of Airbus’s iconic double-decker aircraft the A380, and Boeing’s 787-10 Dreamliner.
Singapore’s flag carrier also owns over 20 subsidiaries including low-cost carrier Scoot and the SIA Cargo.
The current Singapore Airlines fleet stands at 145 aircraft, including 24 Boeing 787-10s, 20 777-300ERs, 54 Airbus A350-900s and nine A380-300s.
The carrier is currently awaiting delivery of 50 aircraft including 31 Boeing 777-9s and seven 737-8s.
Largest airlines and commercial aircraft manufacturers by revenue (2025)
Bradley Caslin / Shutterstock.comAssessing revenue performance allows both privately and publicly owned companies to be compared.
Airbus – $74.21 billion
Boeing – $66.51 billion
Delta Air Lines – $61.64 billion
United Air Lines – $57.06 Billion
American Airlines – $54.21 billion
Lufthansa Group – $40.50 billion
IAG – $34.62 billion
Emirates – $33 billion
Air France-KLM – $33.93 billion
(data based on publicly available information)
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It is only while researching which companies are among the world’s largest airlines and commercial aircraft manufacturers that…
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