Photographs: Reuters.
United Airlines, following its merger with Continental has emerged as the world's biggest airline measured by available seat kilometers (capacity).
The biggest movers in the overall World Top 50 list include Turkish Airlines, which jumped seven places to rank 15th globally, while Indonesian carrier Lion Air vaulted 8 places to enter the global Top 40 for the first time.
Jet Airways has slipped seven places to the 46th rank, while IndiGo has emerged as one of the fastest growing airlines in the list of biggest airlines of 2012 compiled by the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA).
Here's a look at the 25 biggest airlines based on deployed capacity...
United Airlines (Rank 1)
Capacity Dec 2012: 6.14 billion
Capacity Dec 2011: 3.67 billion
Percentage change: 67.3%
(United and Continental has been combined for 2012 but not 2011. Available seat kilometers/Capacity-- Representative sample week in December of each year )
World's 25 biggest airlines
Photographs: Reuters.
Delta Air Lines (Rank 2)
Capacity Dec 2012: 5.64 billion
Capacity Dec 2011: 5.65 billion
Percentage change: -0.3%
...
World's 25 biggest airlines
Photographs: Reuters.
Emirates (Rank 3)
Capacity Dec 2012: 4.99 billion
Capacity Dec 2011: 4.21 billion
Percentage change: 18.4%
...
World's 25 biggest airlines
Photographs: Reuters.
American Airlines (Rank 4)
Capacity Dec 2012: 4.80 billion
Capacity Dec 2011: 4.74 billion
Percentage change: 1.3%
...
World's 25 biggest airlines
Photographs: Luiz Eduardo/Wikimedia Commons.
Southwest Airlines (Rank 5)
Capacity Dec 2012: 3.27 billion
Capacity Dec 2011: 3.05 billion
Percentage change: 7.3%
...
World's 25 biggest airlines
Photographs: Lasse Fuss/Wikimedia Commons.
Lufthansa (Rank 6)
Capacity Dec 2012: 3.15 billion
Capacity Dec 2011: 3.23 billion
Percentage change: -2.3%
...
World's 25 biggest airlines
Photographs: Albion/Wikimedia Commons.
British Airways (Rank 7)
Capacity Dec 2012: 3.04 billion
Capacity Dec 2011: 2.96 billion
Percentage change: 2.7%
...
World's 25 biggest airlines
Photographs: Reuters.
Air France (Rank 8)
Capacity Dec 2012: 2.82 billion
Capacity Dec 2011: 2.94 billion
Percentage change: -4.2%
...
World's 25 biggest airlines
Photographs: Reuters.
China Southern (Rank 9)
Capacity Dec 2012: 2.59 billion
Capacity Dec 2011: 2.33 billion
Percentage change: 11%
...
World's 25 biggest airlines
Photographs: Reuters.
Singapore Airlines (Rank 10)
Capacity Dec 2012: 2.37 billion
Capacity Dec 2011: 2.28 billion
Percentage change: 4.0%
...
World's 25 biggest airlines
Photographs: Bobby Yip/Reuters.
Cathay Pacific (Rank 11)
Capacity Dec 2012: 2.31 billion
Capacity Dec 2011: 2.51 billion
Percentage change: -8.2%
...
World's 25 biggest airlines
Photographs: Dtom/Wikimedia Commons.
Air China (Rank 12)
Capacity Dec 2012: 2.19 billion
Capacity Dec 2011: 1.97 billion
Percentage change: 11.0%
...
World's 25 biggest airlines
Photographs: Eduardo Munoz/Reuters.
US Airways (Rank 13)
Capacity Dec 2012: 2.01 billion
Capacity Dec 2011: 2.14 billion
Percentage change: -6.1%
...
World's 25 biggest airlines
China Eastern (Rank 14)
Capacity Dec 2012: 1.98 billion
Capacity Dec 2011: 1.80 billion
Percentage change: 10.2%
...
World's 25 biggest airlines
Turkish Airlines (Rank 15)
Capacity Dec 2012: 1.91 billion
Capacity Dec 2011: 1.54 billion
Percentage change: 24.0%
...
World's 25 biggest airlines
Photographs: Qantas Airways.
Qantas Airways (Rank 16)
Capacity Dec 2012: 1.86 billion
Capacity Dec 2011: 1.96 billion
Percentage change: -5.3%
...
World's 25 biggest airlines
Photographs: Per aspera ad Astra/Wikimedia Commons.
Qatar Airways (Rank 17)
Capacity Dec 2012: 1.79 billion
Capacity Dec 2011: 1.65 billion
Percentage change: 8.7%
...
World's 25 biggest airlines
Photographs: Skinnylawyer/Wikimedia Commons.
KLM (Rank 18)
Capacity Dec 2012: 1.78 billion
Capacity Dec 2011: 1.74 billion
Percentage change: 2.4%
...
World's 25 biggest airlines
Photographs: Mattun0211/Wikimedia Commons.
Korean Air Lines (Rank 19)
Capacity Dec 2012: 1.73 billion
Capacity Dec 2011: 1.69 billion
Percentage change: 2.1%
...
World's 25 biggest airlines
Photographs: Strower/Wikimedia Commons.
Thai Airways (Rank 20)
Capacity Dec 2012: 1.70 billion
Capacity Dec 2011: 1.60 billion
Percentage change: 6.3%
...
World's 25 biggest airlines
Photographs: Arpingstone/Wikimedia Commons.
Air Canada (Rank 21)
Capacity Dec 2012: 1.67 billion
Capacity Dec 2011: 1.69 billion
Percentage change: -1.6%
...
World's 25 biggest airlines
Photographs: Masgatotkaca/Wikimedia Commons.
All Nippon Airways (Rank 22)
Capacity Dec 2012: 1.54 billion
Capacity Dec 2011: 1.24 billion
Percentage change: 24.3%
...
World's 25 biggest airlines
Photographs: Morio/Wikimedia Commons.
TAM (Rank 23)
Capacity Dec 2012: 1.49 billion
Capacity Dec 2011: 1.48 billion
Percentage change: 0.7%
...
World's 25 biggest airlines
Photographs: Ruthann/Wikimedia Commons.
Ryanair (Rank 24)
Capacity Dec 2012: 1.47 billion
Capacity Dec 2011: 1.59 billion
Percentage change: -7.2%
...
World's 25 biggest airlines
Japan Airlines (Rank 25)
Capacity Dec 2012: 1.37 billion
Capacity Dec 2011: 1.39 billion
Percentage change: -1.2%
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