AIRLINE FREQUENCY AND CAPACITY STATISTICS

hOW MANY AIRLINES ARE THERE IN THE WORLD?

• In February 2026, there are 718 airlines operating worldwide.
• There are currently 3,920 airports in operation.

• American Airlines remains the largest airline in the world by flight frequency and is scheduled to operate 171,121 flights this month—38,808 more than Delta Air Lines, the second-largest airline globally by frequency.
• The fastest-growing carriers this month are China Southern Airlines and Air China, with year-on-year capacity increases of 11.4% and 8.0%, respectively. 
• In contrast, five major carriers are showing a year-on-year decline in capacity this month: British Airways (-0.9%), All Nippon Airways (-0.9%), Japan Airlines (-1.4%), IndiGo (-1.5%) and Deutsche Lufthansa (-8.6%).
  
  

• Emirates is ranked as the largest international airline in the world based on Available Seat Kilometers (ASKs) and is expected to operate 29.7 billion ASKs this month, which is 49% higher than Qatar Airways, the second largest based on international ASKs.
• The three airlines showing ASK growth rates above 20% this month compared to February 2025 are Etihad Airways (+24.7%), China Southern Airlines (+23.1%) and China Eastern Airlines (+20.3%).  
• Deutsche Lufthansa AG is the only airline in the Top 20 which is showing a decline in ASKs compared to last year, the airline is down 3.8% to 10.1 billion international ASKs this month. 

WHERE IS MOST DOMESTIC CAPACITY THIS MONTH?

• The USA remains the largest domestic market in February 2026, with 77.5m seats scheduled - 6.3m more than China, the second-largest domestic market with 71.2m seats. 
• The Chinese domestic market is expected to increase by 4.9m seats (+7.4%) this month compared to February 2025, as a result of Chinese New Year moving from the 29th January last year to the 17th February this year, therefore moving the peak domestic demand for travel into February.
• The market showing the largest growth rate on last year is Vietnam, where seats have increased by 14.5%.
• The only Top 10 domestic market with lower capacity than last year is Japan, where seats are down 2% to 10.5m.

WHICH TWO COUNTRIES VISIT EACH OTHER MOST?

• Mexico – USA remains the largest international country pair in February 2026, with 4.1m seats scheduled this month. This is 1m more seats than the second-largest pair, Spain - UK, which has 3.1m seats. 
• The country pair in the Top 20 showing the largest rate of decline is Canada - USA, which is down 10% on last year. This decline in capacity is a result of weakening demand for travel from Canada to the US due to ongoing geopolitical tensions.
• China - Japan has dropped out of the Top 20 country pairs due to a decline of 47% in capacity versus February 2025. This change in capacity is a result of China advising citizens to avoid travel to Japan.
  

WHICH WORLD REGION HAS MOST FLIGHT CAPACITY?

• This month, global capacity is projected to reach 459.4m seats - a 4.2% increase on last year, adding 18.7m seats compared with February 2025.
• The region showing the largest volume growth in capacity compared to last year is North East Asia, which is up 7m seats, with 4.9m of that growth due to an increase in domestic Chinese capacity for the Chinese New Year celebrations.
• Southern Africa continues to record the highest growth rate amongst the IATA regions compared to last year, up 11.8%.
• Meanwhile, the Caribbean is the only one of the 17 IATA regions where capacity has declined, with seats down 1.2%.