Airline Business Rankings: Profits climb among leading operators in 2025

The Airline Business financial rankings illustrate an overall improved performance, notably among leading European carriers, in 2025.
Profits climbed among leading airlines in 2025 at both an operating and net level, led by an improved performance among European carriers.

Collective operating profits covering 80 of the world’s 100 biggest airlines by revenue, for which figures are available, rose 5% to $70 billion, data researched by FlightGlobal for the most recent financial year shows.

The improvement was even more pronounced at a net level, increasing 24% to over $42 billion. That data covers 82 airline groups.

The more profitable performance last year was supported by a 6% increase in collective revenues to over $1 trillion among the 100 largest airlines and groups, compared with the same carriers’ performance in 2024.

Strong year for European carriers

Notably, European airlines posted a particularly improved performance. European airline operating profits were up almost a fifth at $21 billion, data covering 22 operators shows. At a net level, European airline profits were 23% higher at $16 billion. That was achieved on revenue up 13% to $278 billion.

This improvement, though, does in part reflect positive exchange rate effects, as the euro strengthened against the US dollar, and the increase in profits is less pronounced in local currency.

By contrast, profitability dropped among North American carriers, as the region’s operators – particularly in the US leisure segment – faced over-capacity and dealt with operational and geopolitical constraints during the year.

North American operating profits, covering 16 operators, slipped 8% to $13.5 billion. Net profits were down 11% at $7 billion.

These figures were impacted by heavy losses, especially at a net level, incurred by low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines – which ceased operations in May 2026. The bulk of the profits were delivered by Delta Air Lines and United Airlines – which contributed more than $10 billion and $8 billion in operating and net profit, respectively, last year.

Overall, North American revenue increased 4% to $331 billion, the highest share among the 100 biggest operators.

Asia-Pacific carriers improved profitability by 4% at an operating level to $16 billion, while collective net profits were flat at $7 billion. This is based on profit figures for 26 airlines. Revenue for carriers in region, covering 31 operators, was 7% higher at $267 billion.

Operating profits were largely unchanged among Middle East carriers at over $13 billion, while net profit was down 3% at $9.6 billion. That covers data from seven carriers for which financial data is available. The bulk of the profits were generated by Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways.

The Middle East figures do, though, reflect the start of the Iran conflict at the end of February, which effectively grounded large chunks of traffic in the region in March. That impact was evident at a number of operators in the region with a financial year running to the end of March 2026.

Latin American carriers reported a 1% increase in operating profits for the year, to $6.2 billion. The region’s leading carriers posted collective net profits of $3 billion, though direct comparison is complicated by heavy net losses recorded in 2024 amid formal restructuring at Brazilian carriers Azul and Abra unit Gol.

There is not enough data to provide a regional summary for African carrier profitability featured among the 100 biggest operators by revenue.

Delta heads the pack on revenue

The big three US carriers remain the largest operators by total revenues.

Delta was the biggest airline, increasing revenue 3% to $63.4 billion. United lifted revenues 4% to $59 billion, while American Airlines’ revenues were 1% higher at $54.6 billion.

FedEx Express now includes ground transportation in its reporting, but a comparative figure to previous years has been calculated by excluding ground revenue from its published total. The improvement in FedEx revenues reflects the wider strong year for cargo traffic, as the market adjusted with new trade lanes amid the impact of tariffs on global trade.

Revenues at Air France-KLM, IAG and Lufthansa climbed the most among the top operators by revenue, though these growth rates were roughly double the rate of increase in local currency, reflecting currency changes.

Emirates leads the way on profit

Dubai-based carrier Emirates again led airline profitability in 2025 in absolute terms, despite the Iran conflict impacting its performance in March – the last month of its financial year.

The Emirates Group, which includes aviation services company Dnata, posted operating profits up 2% at $6.6 billion in its 2025-26 financial year. Emirates’ group net profits were 3% higher at $5.7 billion.

That was enough to keep the Gulf carrier ahead of US majors Delta and United. Operating profits slipped slightly at both, though Delta boosted its net profit by 45% to just over $5 billion, reflecting gains on investments.

European carriers accounted for five of the top 10 most profitable airline groups last year, by both operating and net profit, reflecting a strong financial performance by carriers in the region.

British Airways and Iberia parent, IAG, led the way reporting operating profits up a fifth to $5.7 billion and net profits up 28% to almost $3.8 billion.

Low-cost giant Ryanair enjoyed notably improved profitability last year. The airline boosted operating profits by around two-thirds to almost $2.8 billion, while its net profits climbed 44% to €2.5 billion.

Air France-KLM, Lufthansa Group and Turkish Airlines all featured among the most profitable groups in the world last year. While Turkish Airlines’ profits fell in US dollar terms in 2025, profits increased slightly in local currency.

Qatar Airways enjoyed another strong year, posting profits of more than $4 billion – even when including the impact of the Iran conflict on its March numbers.

LATAM Airlines Group also features among the 10 most profitable airline groups last year, after a 50% jump in its operating and net profits.

Revenue split by segment

Three-quarters of revenues were generated by airlines or groups with a primary focus in the network carrier segment. Just five of the 30 biggest airline groups by revenue last year were not network carriers.

This in part reflects the higher value of the product on offer, given the larger proportion of long-haul flights and premium cabins at network carrier groups.

It also worth remembering that cargo, regional and low-cost operations feature among the network carrier groups. For the purposes of this segment analysis, data is attributed to the primary business line where groups operate a variety of business models and brands.

About the rankings

The Airline Business financial rankings is sourced from FlightGlobal research using company results, annual reports, press statements and regulatory data.

As financial figures are converted from local currency to US dollars for comparative purposes, currency exchange movements fr

Source: www.flightglobal.com — article syndicated from the publisher’s feed; all rights remain with the original publisher.