Open Dataset
Carrier leaderboard
Every carrier in our BTS T-100 sample (198 routes), ranked by leadership positions: routes-led, top-3 appearances, passengers under lead, average share when leading, and a per-corridor split. Pure aggregation over public-domain data — no estimated or projected values.
Last updated · Reviewed by Editorial Team
The leaderboard reflects the BTS T-100 Segment 2025 release. Carrier appearance and share both come from BTS’s reported figures; we layer corridor classification on top from the route metadata in our consolidator catalog. The result is a faithful count, not a model — a carrier that leads 12 transatlantic routes appears with that count, and the underlying CSV download exposes every input.
At a glance
Five aggregate facts about the leaderboard
Carriers in the dataset
59
Distinct reporting carriers appearing anywhere in the BTS T-100 sample we cover.
Total routes-led positions
198
Sum across the leaderboard. Equals the number of distinct routes in the BTS sample (each route has one #1 carrier).
Top carrier this release
Lufthansa
Leads 22 routes, with an average share of 47% when leading.
Carriers leading ≥ 3 routes
23
Threshold for “materially present” in the dataset — most other carriers lead one or two routes total.
Largest single route led
449K
By the dataset’s leader. Underlying route: new york to frankfurt.
Source release
BTS T-100 Segment 2025
Public-domain US federal data. Refreshed quarterly; we re-aggregate on each release.
The leaderboard
All 59 carriers, ranked
Sorted by routes-led, then by passengers under lead. Every column is a deterministic aggregation over public BTS data.
| # | Carrier | Routes led | Top-3 appearances | Avg share when leading | Passengers under lead | Largest route led | Lead by corridor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lufthansa | 22 | 29 | 47% | 3.00M | new york to frankfurt | TATL:22 |
| 2 | Air France | 19 | 21 | 47% | 3.39M | new york to paris | TATL:18Short:1 |
| 3 | British Airways | 18 | 24 | 50% | 4.22M | new york to london | TATL:18 |
| 4 | Air Canada | 12 | 13 | 45% | 4.16M | new york to toronto | Short:12 |
| 5 | Southwest Airlines | 11 | 11 | 44% | 3.92M | boston to cancun | Short:11 |
| 6 | Emirates | 11 | 13 | 78% | 2.22M | new york to dubai | US-ME:9TATL:1Other:1 |
| 7 | Delta Air Lines | 10 | 33 | 63% | 2.02M | atlanta to london | TATL:7TPAC:2Other:1 |
| 8 | ANA | 8 | 13 | 44% | 856K | chicago to tokyo | TPAC:8 |
| 9 | Aeromexico | 6 | 6 | 47% | 2.01M | houston to mexico city | Short:6 |
| 10 | Turkish Airlines | 6 | 7 | 49% | 776K | new york to istanbul | US-ME:6 |
| 11 | American Airlines | 5 | 71 | 59% | 2.12M | new york to miami | TATL:3USDOM:1Short:1 |
| 12 | United Airlines | 5 | 102 | 41% | 1.88M | new york to san francisco | TPAC:2USDOM:2TATL:1 |
| 13 | Japan Airlines | 5 | 9 | 50% | 891K | los angeles to tokyo | TPAC:5 |
| 14 | Singapore Airlines | 4 | 6 | 80% | 909K | los angeles to singapore | TPAC:4 |
| 15 | Air India | 4 | 5 | 67% | 819K | new york to delhi | TPAC:4 |
| 16 | ITA Airways | 4 | 11 | 47% | 759K | new york to rome | TATL:4 |
| 17 | Qantas | 4 | 4 | 64% | 749K | los angeles to sydney | US-OCE:4 |
| 18 | Aer Lingus | 3 | 3 | 65% | 854K | new york to dublin | TATL:3 |
| 19 | Philippine Airlines | 3 | 3 | 88% | 811K | los angeles to manila | TPAC:3 |
| 20 | Cathay Pacific | 3 | 5 | 63% | 797K | san francisco to hong kong | Other:3 |
| 21 | EVA Air | 3 | 4 | 55% | 712K | los angeles to taipei | TPAC:3 |
| 22 | Korean Air | 3 | 7 | 41% | 589K | los angeles to seoul | TPAC:3 |
| 23 | LATAM | 3 | 4 | 42% | 330K | miami to lima | Other:2Short:1 |
| 24 | JetBlue | 2 | 9 | 24% | 2.02M | new york to los angeles | USDOM:2 |
| 25 | Avianca | 2 | 2 | 45% | 563K | miami to bogota | Short:2 |
| 26 | Iberia | 2 | 2 | 40% | 488K | miami to madrid | TATL:2 |
| 27 | KLM | 2 | 4 | 47% | 407K | new york to amsterdam | TATL:2 |
| 28 | Thai Airways | 2 | 2 | 45% | 186K | los angeles to bangkok | TPAC:2 |
| 29 | Qatar Airways | 1 | 3 | 100% | 420K | new york to doha | US-ME:1 |
| 30 | IndiGo | 1 | 1 | 44% | 374K | delhi to dubai | ME-AS:1 |
| 31 | LOT Polish Airlines | 1 | 1 | 100% | 320K | chicago to warsaw | TATL:1 |
| 32 | Swiss International Air Lines | 1 | 1 | 55% | 275K | new york to zurich | TATL:1 |
| 33 | TAP Portugal | 1 | 1 | 50% | 240K | new york to lisbon | TATL:1 |
| 34 | LATAM Airlines | 1 | 2 | 35% | 235K | miami to sao paulo | Other:1 |
| 35 | El Al Israel Airlines | 1 | 1 | 36% | 187K | new york to tel aviv | US-ME:1 |
| 36 | Air China | 1 | 2 | 100% | 180K | new york to beijing | TPAC:1 |
| 37 | Air New Zealand | 1 | 1 | 50% | 180K | los angeles to auckland | US-OCE:1 |
| 38 | Saudia | 1 | 1 | 100% | 180K | new york to jeddah | US-ME:1 |
| 39 | Kenya Airways | 1 | 1 | 100% | 180K | new york to nairobi | Other:1 |
| 40 | Etihad Airways | 1 | 2 | 100% | 170K | new york to abu dhabi | US-ME:1 |
| 41 | China Eastern Airlines | 1 | 1 | 70% | 140K | new york to shanghai | TPAC:1 |
| 42 | Delta | 1 | 37 | 44% | 95K | san francisco to amsterdam | TATL:1 |
| 43 | Aerolineas Argentinas | 1 | 1 | 44% | 95K | miami to buenos aires | Other:1 |
| 44 | EgyptAir | 1 | 1 | 44% | 68K | new york to cairo | Other:1 |
| 45 | Asiana Airlines | 0 | 3 | — | 0 | — | — |
| 46 | Air Premia | 0 | 2 | — | 0 | — | — |
| 47 | Virgin Atlantic | 0 | 9 | — | 0 | — | — |
| 48 | Air Tahiti Nui | 0 | 1 | — | 0 | — | — |
| 49 | French Bee | 0 | 1 | — | 0 | — | — |
| 50 | Air Europa | 0 | 1 | — | 0 | — | — |
| 51 | Discover Airlines | 0 | 1 | — | 0 | — | — |
| 52 | China Airlines | 0 | 3 | — | 0 | — | — |
| 53 | Starlux | 0 | 2 | — | 0 | — | — |
| 54 | GOL | 0 | 1 | — | 0 | — | — |
| 55 | Westjet | 0 | 1 | — | 0 | — | — |
| 56 | Air Transat | 0 | 2 | — | 0 | — | — |
| 57 | Etihad | 0 | 1 | — | 0 | — | — |
| 58 | Condor | 0 | 9 | — | 0 | — | — |
| 59 | Copa Airlines | 0 | 1 | — | 0 | — | — |
Corridor codes: TATL Transatlantic (US↔Europe) · TPAC Transpacific (US↔Asia) · US-ME US↔Middle East · US-OCE US↔Oceania · EU-AS Europe↔Asia · ME-AS Middle East↔Asia · EU-OCE Europe↔Oceania · USDOM US Domestic · Other long-haul · Short short/mid-haul.
How to read it
Five ways readers actually use this leaderboard
- Sourcing analysis. Identify which carrier dominates a given corridor before sourcing premium-cabin contracts on it. The corridor split tells you which carriers concentrate where.
- Codeshare planning. A carrier leading 10 routes within one corridor and 0 in another is a strong codeshare candidate for the absent corridor — they have demonstrable distribution but no metal.
- Editorial framing.“Top 5 transatlantic carrier” statements should be backed by the routes-led count for the relevant corridor, not vague market-share claims.
- Press citations. Every figure here is reproducible from BTS T-100 Segment data. Journalists can cite the leaderboard alongside the BTS source.
- Comparison page input.When comparing two carriers, the routes-led count and corridor split are the most defensible “who is bigger” signals available from public data.
What this leaderboard is not
Five limitations to keep in mind
- Routes-led ≠ market share. A carrier with the largest #1 share on the smallest route is “leading” that route — the count weights all routes equally.
- Passengers under lead is total passengers, not premium-cabin passengers — BTS does not split by cabin class.
- Foreign-carrier-only segments outside US territory are not in the BTS T-100 dataset, so non-US-touching networks are absent here.
- Corridor classification is editorial — a route between a US gateway and a Caribbean island goes to “Other” rather than its own corridor bucket.
- JV-shared metal is not collapsed into a single brand — Delta and KLM’s Atlantic JV shows up as two separate carriers each with their own routes-led count.
Methodology
Sources and aggregation rules
Source data is the BTS T-100 Segment 2025 release joined to our consolidator route catalog by route slug. For each route, we read the BTS-reported carrier list (sorted by share). The #1 carrier counts as the route’s leader; appearances at positions #1, #2, or #3 count as “top-3 appearances”.
Passengers under lead is approximated by multiplying the leader’s share percentage by the route’s total annual passengers, then summing across every route the carrier leads. The corridor split uses the same classification logic documented on the airfare-trends dashboard.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What is "routes led"?
Why do some carriers with big route networks rank low?
What does "passengers under lead" mean?
How do I read the corridor breakdown?
Can I download the underlying data?
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