F R 5 - 9 8

Home | Update | LATEST ISSUE | Gallery | FR Profile | Datafiles | FR 5/98 THE LARGEST AIRLINES OF THE WORLD by Heiko Reuter The word's leading three airliners are the US-carrier American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines. Each of them is a giant in its own right. Understatement is not one of the American basic characteristics. At least not, if big business is concerned. US-carriers are not an exception. While this business branch on the whole is rather restrained, they seem to think that the more ostentatious the marketing, the better. "Delta's proceeds in 1997 were the highest ever," it says in big letters on the envelope containing Delta's annual report. Delta, American and United are the world's biggest airlines. Many superlatives are used to describe these businesses. And the dimensions are enormous. When the American Margaret Mack boarded the Delta flight 680 from Dallas to Atlanta last year two days before Christmas Eve, she entered the record books. The modest woman from Conyers, Georgia, was the 100millionth passenger. No other airline had ever carried as many passengers in one year. By 31 December Delta had carried 103 million passengers. United and American landed on place two and three of the global ranking list with 84 and 81 million passengers.Whoever carries so many passengers, earns good money. Delta, American and United top the statistics with between 14 and 17.4 billion US dollars. The trio is also top as far as profits are concerned. American Airlines also holds a very special record. The fleet of the Dallas based carrier comprises 644 aircraft. Since the collapse of the old Aeroflot of the Soviet Union American is the airline with the biggest fleet. Lufthansa with its 268 planes takes as the biggest non-US airline the eighth position. Finally United is the absolute number one as far as sales are concerned. No other airline has sold as many passenger kilometers as United. The amount makes all the difference. The North American domestic market is the biggest singular air traffic market in the world. US and Canadian airports dealt with over one billion passengers during 1997. Almost every second passenger boarding a plane worldwide does so either in the USA or Canada. And to a large extent this is distributed between the three airlines. On the North Atlantic routes the share is even 66 per cent. When compared with the domestic market, the three US giants are small fry as far as the cross border traffic is concerned. International flights account for only ten to twenty per cent of their passengers. Here they are still among the 15 best airlines. However, British Airways is the true number one in this area. The British welcome tree quarters of their passengers on across border flights From page 30 of FLUG REVUE 5/98 Home | Update | LATEST ISSUE | Gallery | FR Profile | Datafiles | FR 5/98 Copyright 1998 by Motor-Presse Stuttgart. All rights reserved. Last updated April 7, 1998 FLUG REVUE, Ubierstr. 83, 53173 Bonn, Germany