Top 20 International Airlines

tonyw

tonyw

Well-Known Member
by RPKs, January to September 2003

1. American
2. United
3. Delta
4. Northwest
5. British Airways
6. Air France
7. Continental
8. Lufthansa
9. Southwest
10. Philippine
11. US Airways
12. KLM
13. Singapore
14. Qantas
15. Iberia
16. Korean Air
17. America West
18. Emirates
19. Cathay Pacific
20. Japan Airlines

Folks, this is why I say that the LCCs ain't gonna kill off any of the network airlines that don't already have problems beyond competition from the LCCs.

You cannot replace all those RPKs (can you tell that the audience that this report was designed for is international, by the way, since they're in RPKs instead of RPMs?) that the network airlines provide without destroying the air transportation system the world needs.

And for all the talk of how all the various LCCs are doing so well, notice that there is only one LCC in the entire world that makes the list.
 
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9. Southwest

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Last time I checked, we didn't fly international. I think Puerto Rico would be a good route for us, but that would mean spending money to equip all of our planes with the necessary over water stuff.
 
I think by international - they are reffering to airlines, from around the world, rather then ones with International routes.
 
Really in terms of what? what does "by RPKs, January to September 2003" stand for or who is it? The comparison should be in terms of total revenue and not on fleet size! You can have 300 planes and if you can's afford to pay them (United)- then you shouldn't even be on the list!
 
I believe that RPK would be revenue per kilometer. I would like to see the actual numbers that each airline has as well as their position in the list. Are the RPMs close or are they really spread out. As to the fleet size, you are right, if you can't pay for them you shouldn't be on the list as could be the case if they were flying mostly empty flights (a mob front anyone?). The RPM addresses this figure by showing the figures in relation to the number of people on the plane. The benefit of showing the fleet size would give you a sense of how full of a load each flight had (on average of course). Ok, now that I have completly turning this into an A.net discussion
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Ethan
 
RPKs stands for revenue passenger kilometer, which is a passenger moved one kilometer.

And the international tag means it's for all passenger airlines in the world. It doesn't mean on international flights only. That's how Southwest got on the list, since they don't fly internationally.

Cargo airlines are measured differently. They measure those with FTKs, or freight ton kilometer. Each FTK is one ton of freight moved one kilometer. I wasn't bored enough at work to look up the rankings of cargo airlines but since there's a question about it, I will.
 
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You cannot replace all those RPKs (can you tell that the audience that this report was designed for is international, by the way, since they're in RPKs instead of RPMs?) that the network airlines provide without destroying the air transportation system the world needs.


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You apparently haven't read your history books lately. If you had looked at this same list 20 years ago, you would have seen carriers like TWA, Pan Am and Eastern. All had substantial route systems and substantial international operations. Yet today, all of them are gone and the air transportation system hasn't been destroyed.

All of the majors have problems beyond simply competing with LCC's. Competing with LCC's is probably the largest problem, but certainly not the only one. Poor management, poor labor relations, excessively burdensome debt levels, burdensome pension plans, burdensome cost of supporting high seniority employees, burdensome security costs and the violently cyclical nature of many international markets are all problems that the majors face.

Obviously, all of the majors aren't going to go away, but a few of them very well may.
 
And TWA and Pan Am exist. Not independently, of course. But as part of American and United, respectively.
 
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I find it extremely hard to believe that Air Canada is not on that list.
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No way hoser! Take off eh!
 
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And TWA and Pan Am exist. Not independently, of course. But as part of American and United, respectively.

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Pan Am was not wholly bought by United as was the case with AA/TWA. Pan Am was sold off in many different parts to many different carriers.

The S. America/Carribean operation went to AA

The JFK Hub/FRA Hub/ and Shuttle services went to DL, along with some A-310's

The Pacific operation was sold to UA, along with some 747SP's, and L-1011-500's.

--03M
 
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And TWA and Pan Am exist. Not independently, of course. But as part of American and United, respectively.

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Actually Bob Beziat is a former Pan Am pilot. We (Delta) purchased the JFK and shuttle operation.
 
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Pan Am was not wholly bought by United as was the case with AA/TWA. Pan Am was sold off in many different parts to many different carriers.

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Yeah, I know. I was oversimplifying to keep things short. And since my butt has been on the Delta shuttle many a time...
 
Pan Am still exists in some form here at SFB. I think they basically just bought the name and paintjob from whoever owned it. Also they’ve put winglets on some of their 727’s, which look really sweet in my opionion.
 
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I find it extremely hard to believe that Air Canada is not on that list.
confused.gif


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No way hoser! Take off eh!



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And now for my best American impression:

"uuummmm, aaaahhhh, hhuuuuhhhh, i dunno?"
smirk.gif
 
How about another famous Canadian impression:

"I am NOT Canadian... I am Quebecois!"
 
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