Busiest airlines, March 2026

205,091 flights, American Airlines (AA)

The busiest airline in March 2026 was American Airlines (AA), with 205,091 flights.

March 2026 (1–31 March 2026) Source: www.airportia.com/statistics/busiest-airlines/2026-03/

Period: 1–31 March 2026 (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, March 2026: top 15, flights1–31 March 2026. Source: Airportia.1. American Airlines (AA): 205,091 (198,675 flights)1. American Airlines (AA)205,0912. Delta Air Lines (DL): 159,630 (154,874 flights)2. Delta Air Lines (DL)159,6303. United Airlines (UA): 155,561 (150,666 flights)3. United Airlines (UA)155,5614. Southwest Airlines (WN): 129,031 (124,944 flights)4. Southwest Airlines (WN)129,0315. Ryanair (FR): 86,194 (83,116 flights)5. Ryanair (FR)86,1946. China Eastern Airlines (MU): 70,597 (68,418 flights)6. China Eastern Airlines (MU)70,5977. China Southern Airlines (CZ): 69,022 (66,779 flights)7. China Southern Airlines (CZ)69,0228. IndiGo Airlines (6E): 63,191 (61,222 flights)8. IndiGo Airlines (6E)63,1919. LATAM Airlines (LA): 51,139 (49,546 flights)9. LATAM Airlines (LA)51,13910. easyJet (U2): 48,905 (47,466 flights)10. easyJet (U2)48,90511. Air China (CA): 48,397 (46,855 flights)11. Air China (CA)48,39712. Alaska Airlines (AS): 46,831 (45,305 flights)12. Alaska Airlines (AS)46,83113. Turkish Airlines (TK): 38,035 (36,768 flights)13. Turkish Airlines (TK)38,03514. AirAsia (AK): 33,866 (32,795 flights)14. AirAsia (AK)33,86615. All Nippon Airways (NH): 33,064 (31,862 flights)15. All Nippon Airways (NH)33,064

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

Full ranking: 746 airlines

The first 100 are shown here; the CSV has all 746.

# Airline Country Flights Avg departure delay Cancelled Flights
1 American Airlines (AA) United States United States 205,091 37.3 min 2.5% 198,675
2 Delta Air Lines (DL) United States United States 159,630 30.9 min 3.4% 154,874
3 United Airlines (UA) United States United States 155,561 36.8 min 2.0% 150,666
4 Southwest Airlines (WN) United States United States 129,031 30.9 min 1.3% 124,944
5 Ryanair (FR) Ireland Ireland 86,194 17.0 min 0.4% 83,116
6 China Eastern Airlines (MU) China China 70,597 18.9 min 0.9% 68,418
7 China Southern Airlines (CZ) China China 69,022 23.3 min 0.3% 66,779
8 IndiGo Airlines (6E) India India 63,191 16.4 min 3.3% 61,222
9 LATAM Airlines (LA) Chile Chile 51,139 18.6 min 0.8% 49,546
10 easyJet (U2) United Kingdom United Kingdom 48,905 21.4 min 0.4% 47,466
11 Air China (CA) China China 48,397 18.9 min 1.1% 46,855
12 Alaska Airlines (AS) United States United States 46,831 25.0 min 1.3% 45,305
13 Turkish Airlines (TK) Turkey Turkey 38,035 22.2 min 0.1% 36,768
14 AirAsia (AK) Malaysia Malaysia 33,866 26.3 min 0.1% 32,795
15 All Nippon Airways (NH) Japan Japan 33,064 17.1 min 0.7% 31,862
16 Air Canada (AC) Canada Canada 30,643 43.6 min 4.4% 29,653
17 Lufthansa (LH) Germany Germany 29,723 19.5 min 4.7% 28,809
18 JetBlue Airways (B6) United States United States 28,815 36.5 min 1.3% 27,878
19 Japan Airlines (JL) Japan Japan 28,497 19.9 min 0.9% 27,570
20 Wizz Air (W6) Hungary Hungary 26,589 16.9 min 0.3% 25,709
21 British Airways (BA) United Kingdom United Kingdom 26,049 26.0 min 1.9% 25,304
22 Qantas (QF) Australia Australia 25,616 14.8 min 2.2% 25,067
23 Azul Brazilian Airlines (AD) Brazil Brazil 24,226 16.0 min 0.8% 23,509
24 Air France (AF) France France 24,225 21.7 min 1.3% 23,499
25 Avianca (AV) Colombia Colombia 23,671 22.7 min 1.3% 22,898
26 Hainan Airlines (HU) China China 22,872 20.2 min 1.2% 22,161
27 Frontier Airlines (F9) United States United States 22,031 41.6 min 1.6% 21,285
28 Shenzhen Airlines (ZH) China China 21,529 28.0 min 0.6% 20,832
29 Aeroflot (SU) Russia Russia 21,217 17.5 min 0.3% 20,537
30 Air India (AI) India India 21,135 31.4 min 1.9% 20,465
31 SAS (SK) Norway Norway 20,991 13.6 min 1.9% 20,487
32 KLM (KL) Netherlands Netherlands 20,782 21.6 min 1.6% 20,142
33 GOL Transportes Aeros (G3) Brazil Brazil 20,585 17.7 min 0.4% 20,005
34 Xiamen Airlines (MF) China China 19,825 19.8 min 0.7% 19,216
35 WestJet (WS) Canada Canada 19,250 35.6 min 1.9% 18,662
36 Sichuan Airlines (3U) China China 18,657 19.2 min 0.7% 18,099
37 Shandong Airlines (SC) China China 18,596 17.9 min 0.3% 18,013
38 Pegasus Airlines (PC) Turkey Turkey 18,040 24.1 min 3.9% 17,418
39 Iberia (IB) Spain Spain 17,616 20.2 min 0.3% 17,103
40 Vueling (VY) Spain Spain 17,586 19.7 min 0.2% 17,056
41 Spring Airlines (9C) China China 17,505 21.0 min 0.4% 16,960
42 Saudi Arabian Airlines (SV) Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia 16,731 31.3 min 5.1% 16,153
43 Volaris (Y4) Mexico Mexico 16,377 19.5 min 0.2% 15,852
44 Spirit Airlines (NK) United States United States 16,008 48.4 min 8.5% 15,500
45 Air New Zealand (NZ) New Zealand New Zealand 15,909 18.2 min 2.9% 15,505
46 VietJet Air (VJ) Vietnam Vietnam 15,830 27.0 min 0.0% 15,328
47 Aeroméxico (AM) Mexico Mexico 15,814 19.5 min 0.1% 15,317
48 Ethiopian Airlines (ET) Ethiopia Ethiopia 15,329 21.0 min 0.1% 14,864
49 Qatar Airways (QR) Qatar Qatar 15,123 13.3 min 49.4% 14,840
50 Jetstar Airways (JQ) Australia Australia 14,946 26.4 min 1.3% 14,476
51 CEBU Pacific Air (5J) Philippines Philippines 14,876 18.7 min 0.0% 14,384
52 Virgin Australia (VA) Australia Australia 14,456 20.6 min 1.7% 14,174
53 VivaAerobus (VB) Mexico Mexico 14,245 20.1 min 1.5% 13,783
54 Vietnam Airlines (VN) Vietnam Vietnam 14,224 19.4 min 0.0% 13,755
55 Emirates (EK) United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates 13,520 46.1 min 21.4% 13,143
56 Allegiant Air (G4) United States United States 13,443 32.3 min 1.3% 12,936
57 Air India Express (IX) India India 13,207 27.4 min 0.5% 12,788
58 Batik Air (ID) Indonesia Indonesia 12,911 25.1 min 2.2% 12,509
59 Cathay Pacific (CX) Hong Kong Hong Kong 12,713 37.5 min 0.3% 12,304
60 Korean Air (KE) South Korea South Korea 12,501 23.2 min 0.2% 12,101
61 Copa Airlines (CM) Panama Panama 12,448 16.0 min 0.0% 12,055
62 Transavia (HV) Netherlands Netherlands 12,125 18.8 min 0.1% 11,741
63 AJet (VF) Singapore Singapore 11,762 19.5 min 0.1% 11,341
64 Eurowings (EW) Germany Germany 11,494 18.0 min 0.0% 11,198
65 Thai AirAsia (FD) Thailand Thailand 11,448 0.9 min 0.0% 11,084
66 China Express Airlines (G5) China China 11,228 19.2 min 4.2% 10,895
67 Singapore Airlines (SQ) Singapore Singapore 11,117 23.7 min 0.1% 10,760
68 Norwegian (DY) Norway Norway 11,024 14.7 min 0.1% 10,803
69 Tianjin Airlines (GS) China China 10,863 18.6 min 0.5% 10,513
70 Philippine Airlines (PR) Philippines Philippines 10,794 19.3 min 1.6% 10,441
71 Widerøe (WF) Norway Norway 10,451 8.6 min 0.0% 10,323
72 flynas (XY) Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia 10,127 29.2 min 0.7% 9,813
73 ITA Airways (AZ) Italy Italy 10,117 20.2 min 0.1% 9,815
74 Lion Airlines (JT) Indonesia Indonesia 9,871 36.7 min 0.0% 9,625
75 Finnair (AY) Finland Finland 9,839 13.1 min 0.7% 9,546
76 Juneyao Airlines (HO) China China 9,795 21.9 min 0.5% 9,477
77 TAP Portugal (TP) Portugal Portugal 9,499 27.8 min 0.0% 9,177
78 LOT (LO) Poland Poland 9,352 18.2 min 0.0% 9,089
79 Shanghai Airlines (FM) China China 9,293 20.1 min 0.5% 9,005
80 Aerolineas Argentinas (AR) Argentina Argentina 9,260 20.1 min 0.2% 8,955
81 Chengdu Airlines (EU) China China 9,184 14.6 min 1.9% 8,893
82 Malaysia Airlines (MH) Malaysia Malaysia 9,178 20.5 min 1.4% 8,874
83 Aer Lingus (EI) Ireland Ireland 9,130 24.3 min 0.8% 8,854
84 Austrian Airlines (OS) Austria Austria 9,064 13.7 min 0.4% 8,828
85 Binter Canarias (NT) Spain Spain 8,994 15.6 min 0.0% 8,731
86 JetSMART (JA) Chile Chile 8,699 24.8 min 0.0% 8,424
87 Loong Airlines (GJ) China China 8,657 17.6 min 0.1% 8,401
88 Capital Airlines (JD) China China 8,534 19.0 min 0.2% 8,274
89 SkyWest Airlines (OO) United States United States 8,336 44.8 min 1.9% 8,027
90 Air Arabia (G9) United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates 8,121 20.6 min 0.2% 7,915
91 Swiss (LX) Switzerland Switzerland 8,063 23.0 min 0.8% 7,813
92 Citilink (QG) Indonesia Indonesia 7,715 17.5 min 0.0% 7,448
93 Porter Airlines (PD) Canada Canada 7,532 35.2 min 1.5% 7,286
94 S7 Airlines (S7) Russia Russia 7,466 10.2 min 0.3% 7,221
95 Thai Airways (TG) Thailand Thailand 7,360 26.1 min 0.1% 7,121
96 Breeze Airways (MX) United States United States 7,295 32.0 min 0.7% 7,045
97 EgyptAir (MS) Egypt Egypt 7,207 26.3 min 12.1% 6,950
98 Airlink (4Z) South Africa South Africa 7,188 13.5 min 0.2% 7,000
99 Cape Air (9K) United States United States 7,074 12.9 min 4.6% 6,829
100 TUI fly Germany (X3) Germany Germany 6,988 25.9 min 0.0% 6,714

Cite this

The busiest airline in March 2026 was American Airlines (AA), with 205,091 flights. Source: Airportia, "Busiest airlines, March 2026" (1–31 March 2026), https://www.airportia.com/statistics/busiest-airlines/2026-03/, 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.