Busiest airlines, December 2023

170,048 flights, American Airlines (AA)

The busiest airline in December 2023 was American Airlines (AA), with 170,048 flights.

December 2023 (1–31 December 2023) Source: www.airportia.com/statistics/busiest-airlines/2023-12/

Period: 1–31 December 2023 (UTC). Data calculated on 3 November 2026 at 04:00 UTC. In the average departure delay, early and cancelled flights count as 0. How we calculate this

Top 15 airlines by flights
Busiest airlines, December 2023: top 15, flights1–31 December 2023. Source: Airportia.1. American Airlines (AA): 170,048 (164,118 flights)1. American Airlines (AA)170,0482. Delta Air Lines (DL): 136,851 (132,192 flights)2. Delta Air Lines (DL)136,8513. Southwest Airlines (WN): 130,075 (125,763 flights)3. Southwest Airlines (WN)130,0754. United Airlines (UA): 127,024 (122,823 flights)4. United Airlines (UA)127,0245. Ryanair (FR): 70,842 (68,346 flights)5. Ryanair (FR)70,8426. China Eastern Airlines (MU): 67,840 (65,686 flights)6. China Eastern Airlines (MU)67,8407. China Southern Airlines (CZ): 65,576 (63,419 flights)7. China Southern Airlines (CZ)65,5768. IndiGo Airlines (6E): 61,908 (59,915 flights)8. IndiGo Airlines (6E)61,9089. Air China (CA): 48,821 (47,254 flights)9. Air China (CA)48,82110. LATAM Airlines (LA): 45,819 (44,294 flights)10. LATAM Airlines (LA)45,81911. easyJet (U2): 42,374 (40,912 flights)11. easyJet (U2)42,37412. Turkish Airlines (TK): 41,442 (40,102 flights)12. Turkish Airlines (TK)41,44213. All Nippon Airways (NH): 36,911 (35,730 flights)13. All Nippon Airways (NH)36,91114. Alaska Airlines (AS): 33,883 (32,705 flights)14. Alaska Airlines (AS)33,88315. Lufthansa (LH): 33,409 (32,246 flights)15. Lufthansa (LH)33,409

Every airline with at least one flight in the period and reported departure times is included.

Full ranking: 754 airlines

The first 100 are shown here; the CSV has all 754.

# Airline Country Flights Avg departure delay Cancelled Flights
1 American Airlines (AA) United States United States 170,048 28.4 min 0.3% 164,118
2 Delta Air Lines (DL) United States United States 136,851 24.4 min 0.4% 132,192
3 Southwest Airlines (WN) United States United States 130,075 23.3 min 0.6% 125,763
4 United Airlines (UA) United States United States 127,024 27.3 min 0.4% 122,823
5 Ryanair (FR) Ireland Ireland 70,842 26.6 min 0.1% 68,346
6 China Eastern Airlines (MU) China China 67,840 20.1 min 7.5% 65,686
7 China Southern Airlines (CZ) China China 65,576 21.3 min 0.5% 63,419
8 IndiGo Airlines (6E) India India 61,908 30.2 min 0.6% 59,915
9 Air China (CA) China China 48,821 20.2 min 5.9% 47,254
10 LATAM Airlines (LA) Chile Chile 45,819 15.9 min 0.6% 44,294
11 easyJet (U2) United Kingdom United Kingdom 42,374 29.2 min 0.2% 40,912
12 Turkish Airlines (TK) Turkey Turkey 41,442 21.2 min 1.1% 40,102
13 All Nippon Airways (NH) Japan Japan 36,911 13.6 min 1.0% 35,730
14 Alaska Airlines (AS) United States United States 33,883 25.2 min 0.7% 32,705
15 Lufthansa (LH) Germany Germany 33,409 30.3 min 8.6% 32,246
16 Air Canada (AC) Canada Canada 31,516 36.8 min 2.0% 30,483
17 JetBlue Airways (B6) United States United States 29,301 39.4 min 0.4% 28,272
18 Azul Brazilian Airlines (AD) Brazil Brazil 26,190 18.3 min 2.7% 25,295
19 Japan Airlines (JL) Japan Japan 26,188 20.2 min 0.9% 25,340
20 Spirit Airlines (NK) United States United States 25,970 32.7 min 0.5% 25,098
21 British Airways (BA) United Kingdom United Kingdom 24,615 38.1 min 2.7% 23,741
22 Air France (AF) France France 23,054 32.8 min 1.6% 22,252
23 Qantas (QF) Australia Australia 22,205 27.5 min 3.0% 21,426
24 Avianca (AV) Colombia Colombia 21,800 18.4 min 1.1% 21,089
25 KLM (KL) Netherlands Netherlands 21,429 31.1 min 8.0% 20,729
26 Shenzhen Airlines (ZH) China China 20,722 23.2 min 3.4% 20,049
27 Aeroflot (SU) Russia Russia 19,397 24.1 min 0.1% 18,802
28 Sichuan Airlines (3U) China China 18,641 17.5 min 0.9% 18,024
29 GOL Transportes Aeros (G3) Brazil Brazil 18,636 22.6 min 0.4% 17,985
30 Xiamen Airlines (MF) China China 18,402 17.3 min 0.5% 17,797
31 Iberia (IB) Spain Spain 17,820 22.5 min 0.0% 17,203
32 Hainan Airlines (HU) China China 17,794 21.0 min 2.1% 17,234
33 Aeroméxico (AM) Mexico Mexico 17,766 38.4 min 1.1% 17,148
34 Qatar Airways (QR) Qatar Qatar 17,604 21.9 min 0.3% 17,026
35 Frontier Airlines (F9) United States United States 17,505 32.2 min 0.3% 16,937
36 Vueling (VY) Spain Spain 16,828 18.5 min 0.5% 16,276
37 Volaris (Y4) Mexico Mexico 15,954 27.7 min 1.3% 15,432
38 WestJet (WS) Canada Canada 15,731 30.5 min 1.8% 15,179
39 Saudi Arabian Airlines (SV) Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia 15,505 22.0 min 0.5% 14,981
40 Air New Zealand (NZ) New Zealand New Zealand 15,211 21.2 min 3.5% 14,665
41 Lion Airlines (JT) Indonesia Indonesia 15,042 22.5 min 0.0% 14,514
42 Pegasus Airlines (PC) Turkey Turkey 14,843 29.9 min 0.0% 14,349
43 Emirates (EK) United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates 14,510 35.6 min 0.0% 14,034
44 AirAsia (AK) Malaysia Malaysia 14,434 17.1 min 0.0% 13,953
45 SAS (SK) Norway Norway 14,268 30.5 min 1.1% 13,691
46 Shandong Airlines (SC) China China 13,971 18.7 min 1.4% 13,519
47 Virgin Australia (VA) Australia Australia 13,914 33.0 min 6.7% 13,419
48 Air India (AI) India India 13,357 40.0 min 0.5% 12,902
49 VivaAerobus (VB) Mexico Mexico 13,185 39.6 min 0.3% 12,733
50 Spring Airlines (9C) China China 13,056 24.1 min 1.5% 12,652
51 Ethiopian Airlines (ET) Ethiopia Ethiopia 12,509 7.4 min 0.0% 12,101
52 Vietnam Airlines (VN) Vietnam Vietnam 12,284 22.7 min 0.0% 11,900
53 Wizz Air (W6) Hungary Hungary 11,802 31.4 min 0.4% 11,420
54 Wizz Air Malta (W4) Malta Malta 11,622 19.3 min 0.2% 11,234
55 Batik Air (ID) Indonesia Indonesia 11,286 20.1 min 16.6% 10,898
56 Korean Air (KE) South Korea South Korea 11,202 31.8 min 0.9% 10,849
57 VietJet Air (VJ) Vietnam Vietnam 10,944 27.7 min 0.0% 10,590
58 Swiss (LX) Switzerland Switzerland 10,824 24.5 min 2.0% 10,462
59 Jetstar Airways (JQ) Australia Australia 10,823 32.4 min 4.2% 10,436
60 Malaysia Airlines (MH) Malaysia Malaysia 10,759 28.4 min 0.7% 10,407
60 ITA Airways (AZ) Italy Italy 10,759 20.8 min 0.0% 10,377
62 Thai AirAsia (FD) Thailand Thailand 10,718 16.1 min 0.0% 10,374
63 Aerolineas Argentinas (AR) Argentina Argentina 10,716 28.3 min 2.6% 10,363
64 Copa Airlines (CM) Panama Panama 10,468 23.5 min 0.1% 10,114
65 Juneyao Airlines (HO) China China 10,175 23.0 min 0.8% 9,838
66 Philippine Airlines (PR) Philippines Philippines 9,974 18.2 min 0.8% 9,642
67 Shanghai Airlines (FM) China China 9,901 22.3 min 1.4% 9,580
68 Allegiant Air (G4) United States United States 9,892 27.3 min 0.6% 9,481
69 Vistara (UK) India India 9,827 30.2 min 0.5% 9,507
70 Singapore Airlines (SQ) Singapore Singapore 9,760 14.1 min 0.1% 9,442
71 CEBU Pacific Air (5J) Philippines Philippines 9,679 25.8 min 0.0% 9,352
72 TAP Portugal (TP) Portugal Portugal 9,633 30.4 min 0.7% 9,320
73 flydubai (FZ) United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates 9,628 26.7 min 0.5% 9,304
74 China Express Airlines (G5) China China 9,428 18.8 min 3.4% 9,130
75 Widerøe (WF) Norway Norway 8,977 11.0 min 1.9% 8,588
76 Finnair (AY) Finland Finland 8,837 29.7 min 0.1% 8,528
77 Tianjin Airlines (GS) China China 8,661 23.3 min 0.9% 8,385
78 Flex Flight (W2) Denmark Denmark 8,636 0.0 min 0.0% 8,293
79 Chengdu Airlines (EU) China China 8,432 12.9 min 2.2% 8,174
80 Citilink (QG) Indonesia Indonesia 8,357 26.0 min 0.0% 8,080
81 Aer Lingus (EI) Ireland Ireland 8,314 24.6 min 1.9% 8,005
82 Austrian Airlines (OS) Austria Austria 8,248 25.4 min 1.7% 7,952
83 Eurowings (EW) Germany Germany 8,232 21.5 min 1.2% 7,891
84 S7 Airlines (S7) Russia Russia 8,149 16.3 min 0.3% 7,883
85 Loong Airlines (GJ) China China 8,069 17.5 min 1.1% 7,807
86 Grant Aviation (GV) United States United States 8,051 2.6 min 0.0% 7,771
87 flynas (XY) Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia 8,002 22.6 min 0.3% 7,725
88 LOT (LO) Poland Poland 7,736 25.2 min 0.5% 7,459
89 Cathay Pacific (CX) Hong Kong Hong Kong 7,724 33.4 min 1.1% 7,467
89 Southern Airways Express (9X) United States United States 7,724 31.0 min 0.0% 7,462
91 Capital Airlines (JD) China China 7,302 20.9 min 0.3% 7,062
92 Aegean Airlines (A3) Greece Greece 7,263 17.9 min 0.5% 7,005
93 China United Airlines (KN) China China 7,209 23.9 min 1.7% 6,977
94 Hawaiian Airlines (HA) United States United States 7,055 19.2 min 1.3% 6,838
95 SpiceJet (SG) India India 7,028 120.1 min 3.1% 6,794
96 Airlink (4Z) South Africa South Africa 6,856 11.6 min 0.2% 6,622
97 Binter Canarias (NT) Spain Spain 6,796 12.2 min 0.0% 6,561
98 Asiana Airlines (OZ) South Korea South Korea 6,784 32.2 min 1.2% 6,569
99 Pt. Super Air Jet (IU) Indonesia Indonesia 6,741 22.8 min 0.0% 6,516
100 Air Algérie (AH) Algeria Algeria 6,732 17.6 min 0.1% 6,499

Cite this

The busiest airline in December 2023 was American Airlines (AA), with 170,048 flights. Source: Airportia, "Busiest airlines, December 2023" (1–31 December 2023), https://www.airportia.com/statistics/busiest-airlines/2023-12/, retrieved 3 November 2026.

Download the data (CSV)

Free to use, including commercially, under CC BY 4.0 : credit Airportia and link to this page. How to use our data. Press and data questions: contact@airportia.com.

How we calculate this

Which flights count
Every flight in Airportia's schedule data (from the Aviation Edge feed) that was scheduled to depart in the period, counted once: code-share listings of the same flight are left out. Days are UTC calendar days.
Departure delay
The actual departure time (or the latest reported estimate when no actual time came in) minus the scheduled departure time. A flight that left early or on time counts as 0 minutes. A flight with no reported departure time, cancelled flights included, also counts as 0, so where the feed is patchy the average is lower than the real one.
Average departure delay
The mean of those delays over all counted flights in the period. It is not the share of flights more than 15 minutes late (the usual on-time measure), and it is about departures, not arrivals.
Why there is no "most punctual" ranking
Because flights without a reported departure time count as 0 minutes, a low average can mean missing data rather than punctuality, and the stored figures do not say how many flights had a reported time. So we only rank the most delayed, and the delay rankings leave out every airport, airline or country whose average delay is exactly 0, which almost always means that no times were reported.
Cancellations
Flights with the status Cancelled, as a share of the counted flights in the period.
Airlines
Flights operated by the airline, wherever they depart from. Cargo airlines are not included. They have their own ranking, Busiest cargo airlines.
Period
A month combines three 10-day periods: days 1–10, 11–20 and the last ten days of the month, weighted by departures. In a 31-day month day 21 is not included; in February the second and third periods overlap by a day or two.
Minimum sample
Every airline with at least one flight in the period and reported departure times is included.

Coverage follows the schedule feed: some regional airports and airlines are missing or report few actual times. These are Airportia's own figures, not official statistics from airports, airlines or regulators.