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There are several ways to determine which domestic airline ihas the strongest hold on the market. You can look at revenue, fleet size, number of passengers, number of routes, etc. You can also look at the total number of passenger miles flown. The BTS (Bureau of Transportation Statistics) has released the number of passenger miles flown on the major domestic airlines for the past year (May, 2007 - April, 2008). They use these statistics to determine what percentage of the market each airline has a hold over. So, which airlines are flying the most passengers the most miles? Keep reading to find out… |
From BTS:
- American Airlines - 87 billion passenger miles (14.6%)
- Southwest Airlines - 74 billion passenger miles (12.5%)
- United Airlines - 66 billion passenger miles (11.2%)
- Delta Air Lines - 64 billion passenger miles (10.8%)
- Continental Airlines - 46 billion passenger miles (7.8%)
- Northwest Airlines - 39 billion passenger miles (6.6%)
- US Airways - 39 billion passenger miles (6.5%)
- JetBlue - 25 billion passenger miles (4.2%)
- AirTran Corporation - 18 billion passenger miles (3.0%)
- Alaska Airlines - 16 billion passenger miles (2.7%)
[Other - (20.1%)]
These are interesting numbers indeed, however, I think it’ll be more interesting to compare this list with the same one that comes out next year. Since I’m assuming these are based on domestic miles flown (i.e. within the US only), It’ll interesting to see with all of the cuts that will happen if AA, with a strong lead in miles flown this year, will still be ahead of WN. Or if DL overtakes UA at # 3 because they don’t cut as much. I guess we’ll have to wait.
Comment by Elliot Campbell — July 22, 2008 @ 7:47 pm
Since DL and NW routes do not have much overlap I would expect the ‘New Delta’ to shoot to the top.
Comment by Jim — July 24, 2008 @ 12:50 pm
The hub & spoke system for airline schedules/operations might inflate these figures. An airline that flies more non-stops probably flies less miles between origins and destinations. That airline also is fuel efficient, meaning there are less take-offs and landings between passenger origin and destination.
Comment by Cigar Jon — July 25, 2008 @ 1:41 am
Err you yanks are so typical. The ‘market’ isn’t just the U.S. of A. Planes have been flying across oceans for a loooong time.
So change the misleading ‘patriotic’ yankee focused title or else research the worldwide stats. BA, CX, QF, EK would be up there higher than those poor quality U.S. airlines.
Comment by Adamo Giovane — July 26, 2008 @ 4:42 am