A Visual Capitalist chart published September 21 ranks the world's 25 biggest airlines by annual revenue, using CompaniesMarketCap data for the period from the third quarter of 2025 through the second quarter of 2026. Gabriel Cohen authored the graphic.

Delta Air Lines leads the ranking at $68.3 billion. United Airlines follows at $62.9 billion and American Airlines at $56.0 billion. Together the three carriers report more than $187 billion in annual revenue, and they hold the top three positions globally.

Lufthansa ranks fourth at $47.1 billion and leads European carriers. International Consolidated Airlines sits fifth at $39.1 billion and Air France-KLM sixth at $36.0 billion. Southwest Airlines is the fourth U.S. carrier in the top ten, ranking seventh at $28.9 billion. Chinese airlines fill the next three places, with China Southern at $25.3 billion, Air China at $23.6 billion and China Eastern at $19.4 billion.

Two more U.S. airlines appear further down the list. Alaska Airlines ranks 18th at $14.4 billion and JetBlue ranks 25th at $9.2 billion. Six of the 25 airlines on the chart are U.S. carriers.

Airline revenue sets the scale of fleet operations that drive maintenance, repair and overhaul work. Delta operates its own maintenance division, Delta TechOps, based in Atlanta, and the three largest carriers each run large mixed fleets that require heavy checks, engine overhauls and component repair on continuous schedules.

The chart lists 25 airlines across the United States, Europe, Asia, Latin America, Canada and Australia, and it shows how heavily the top of the ranking concentrates in the U.S. market.

Source: Visual Capitalist - https://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-worlds-top-airlines-by-revenue-in-2026/