on the fly: What are Asia-Pacific’s largest airlines?
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Of all the airlines based in the vast Asia-Pacific region, none are larger than China Southern. The analysis below ranks airlines by seat capacity, but China Southern is also the leader by other measurements, including ASKs and flight departures. Other Chinese airlines also feature prominently on this list. It’s worth noting that India’s IndiGo is now the third largest airline in Asia. Japan’s two leading airlines, as well as Indonesia’s Lion Air, also make the top ten list.
In our analysis, we’re just looking at individual airline operations. However, China Southern and Xiamen Airlines are really part of the same group. Similarly, Air China controls both Shenzhen Airlines and Shandong Airlines. There are other examples of this, like the relationship between Qantas and Jetstar, or between AirAsia and its multiple affiliates. For simplicity’s sake, we’re just ranking by airline IATA codes. But users of Cirium Diio can easily create their own groupings, which we often do when producing our weekly “On the Fly” analysis.
This ranking would look a little different if ranked by ASKs rather than seats. Singapore Airlines, for example, with its many long-haul flights, would show up a few places higher. An ASK ranking would also show Gulf carriers (Emirates and Qatar Airways) as well as some familiar Asian brands like Korean Air, Cathay Pacific, and Thai Airways. Turkish Airlines would make the top 20 list too, if ranked by ASKs to and from the Asia-Pacific region.
Also shown below is a comparison with capacity levels in 2019, to highlight which airlines are still smaller than they were before the pandemic. If we were to look at just at the current April-to-June quarter though, and compare it to the same quarter of 2019, it is evident that seat capacity for most of the Chinese airlines is now positive. The 12 months to May shown below includes periods in which most Asian airline markets were still closed or heavily restricted.
NEXT ON THE FLY: What are the latest US airline capacity trends by state?
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