Size can and does really matter in the commercial airline industry.
The larger the size of the airline the larger the route network the airline can offer its customers. The larger the route network the bigger the customer catchment area. The bigger the catchment area the more customers the airlines have a chance of attracting, a big % of which can end up as members of the airlines frequent flyer clubs. Customer loyalty is a gigantuan revenue cow waiting to be milked. It was once said that the AAdvantage loyalty program was the main business with an airline attached to it.
In terms of size of fleet (operational + stored aircraft), Delta is currently operating the largest commercial airline fleet of 879 planes in the US, it also has 125 planes in storage for a variety of reasons mostly linked to slower post-Covid demand recovery and crew shortages.
American is a short gap behind Delta and followed by United, Southwest. This group are the heavy weight operators of equipment in the sky. The next batch are almost a quarter of the size of the larger ones. Jetblue, Alaska, Spirit, Frontier and Allegiant all considered a form of low cost (LCC) or ultra low cost (ULCC) carriers. Hawaiian takes bottom of the top10 spot.
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My goodness! how much they have grown!
Well, most of the top 10 US airlines have grown mostly inorganically by merging or acquiring other US operators. Jetblue is has grown organically but has aspirations to a much bigger operator should the pending merger with Spirit get the regularity approvals.
Delta Airlines is the sum of previous mergers and acquisitions with/through Northeast Airlines, Western Airlines, Atlantic Southeast, Comair and more recently Northwest Airlines, making it the largest carrier in the US by fleet size.
American Airlines dna contains many smaller airlines consumed by it or connected entities over decades, which is why AA today is the second largest airline by fleet size
US Airways merged with America West and kept the US airways name
TWA merged with American and operated as American Airlines
US airways bought American Airlines and kept most of the US Airways leadership at the time and is now operating as American Airlines. So TWA, America West, US Airways are now part of the American Airline heritage and DNA.
The new American Airlines today is the second largest by fleet, 983 operating aircraft
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United got to its current size (827 operational aircraft) by finally merging with Continental Airlines in 2010. The merged airline retained the Continental logo but the United name was retained for the new brand. The story for Southwest, Alaska and Frontier is similar yet on a smaller scale.
The growth profiles for these top 10 customers has ultimately produced the desired outcomes in terms of revenue. Being the largest airline in the US does translate to generating the largest revenue with a few exceptions. A few of these carriers have also benefited from bankruptcy protection to write off debt as well as government assistance through the COVID years. In further reviews we will be looking at how size and revenue other aspects of the airline such as customer experience, innovation and beyond.
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