Do You Know Which Airlines Are the Biggest?

If your dream is to fly for one of the biggest airlines in the world, you may be interested to know just what airlines carry the largest number of passengers currently and which have the greatest revenue or sales.

The statistics indicate that when it comes to the most passengers, U.S. airlines own the skies. Below is the Top 10 in numbers of passengers flown in 2007: #1 Delta/Northwest flew the most passengers, and American claims #2 with the second highest number of passengers flown. In terms of revenue, however, the list is a little different. Total revenue for each airline is listed (in billions of U.S. dollars) next to each name: Air France-KLM is #1 and Delta/Northwest is #2.  Airlines such as China Southern, blessed by the fast-growing Chinese domestic market, and Europe's low-cost Ryanair are growing rapidly.

1. Delta/Northwest: $31.7

2. American: $22.9

3. Southwest: $9.9

4. Air France-KLM:  $34.4

5. Lufthansa/Swiss: $30.8

6. United: $20.1

7. U.S. Airways: $11.7

8. China Southern: $7.2

9. Continental: $14.2

10. Ryanair: $3.9