Busiest cargo airlines, January 2026

6,435 flights, SF Airlines (O3)

The busiest cargo airline in January 2026 was SF Airlines (O3), with 6,435 flights.

January 2026 (1–31 January 2026) Source: www.airportia.com/statistics/cargo-airlines/2026-01/

Period: 1–31 January 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 cargo airlines, January 2026: top 15, flights1–31 January 2026. Source: Airportia.1. SF Airlines (O3): 6,435 (6,168 flights)1. SF Airlines (O3)6,4352. Atlas Air (5Y): 3,571 (3,453 flights)2. Atlas Air (5Y)3,5713. Alpine Air Express (5A): 2,526 (2,414 flights)3. Alpine Air Express (5A)2,5264. Air Transport International (8C): 2,482 (2,385 flights)4. Air Transport International (8C)2,4825. Swiftair (WT): 2,403 (2,286 flights)5. Swiftair (WT)2,4036. Empire Airlines (EM): 2,206 (2,116 flights)6. Empire Airlines (EM)2,2067. Yangtze River Express (Y8): 1,878 (1,813 flights)7. Yangtze River Express (Y8)1,8788. ABX Air (GB): 1,498 (1,437 flights)8. ABX Air (GB)1,4989. Silk Way West Airlines (7L): 1,468 (1,425 flights)9. Silk Way West Airlines (7L)1,46810. Amerijet International (M6): 1,351 (1,302 flights)10. Amerijet International (M6)1,35111. Air Incheon (KJ): 1,301 (1,245 flights)11. Air Incheon (KJ)1,30112. Kalitta Air (K4): 1,021 (986 flights)12. Kalitta Air (K4)1,02113. Ningxia Cargo Airlines CO.,LTD (HT): 658 (637 flights)13. Ningxia Cargo Airlines CO.,LTD (HT)65814. ULS Airlines Cargo (GO): 349 (331 flights)14. ULS Airlines Cargo (GO)34915. ASL Airlines France (5O): 271 (255 flights)15. ASL Airlines France (5O)271

Every cargo airline with at least one flight in the period is included.

Full ranking: 26 airlines

# Airline Country Flights Avg departure delay Cancelled Flights
1 SF Airlines (O3) China China 6,435 10.9 min 0.0% 6,168
2 Atlas Air (5Y) United States United States 3,571 45.4 min 0.0% 3,453
3 Alpine Air Express (5A) United States United States 2,526 19.5 min 0.0% 2,414
4 Air Transport International (8C) United States United States 2,482 33.8 min 0.0% 2,385
5 Swiftair (WT) Spain Spain 2,403 12.9 min 0.0% 2,286
6 Empire Airlines (EM) United States United States 2,206 6.9 min 0.0% 2,116
7 Yangtze River Express (Y8) China China 1,878 31.3 min 0.7% 1,813
8 ABX Air (GB) United States United States 1,498 19.6 min 0.0% 1,437
9 Silk Way West Airlines (7L) Azerbaijan Azerbaijan 1,468 22.9 min 0.4% 1,425
10 Amerijet International (M6) United States United States 1,351 28.6 min 0.0% 1,302
11 Air Incheon (KJ) South Korea South Korea 1,301 31.4 min 0.0% 1,245
12 Kalitta Air (K4) United States United States 1,021 45.4 min 0.0% 986
13 Ningxia Cargo Airlines CO.,LTD (HT) China China 658 8.4 min 0.0% 637
14 ULS Airlines Cargo (GO) Turkey Turkey 349 76.1 min 0.0% 331
15 ASL Airlines France (5O) France France 271 3.8 min 0.0% 255
16 K-Mile Air (8K) Thailand Thailand 261 27.3 min 0.0% 249
17 ASL Airlines Belgium (3V) Belgium Belgium 234 14.8 min 0.0% 225
18 North-Western Cargo International Airlines (CO) China China 212 9.3 min 0.0% 204
19 Quikjet Cargo Airlines (QO) India India 155 1.8 min 0.0% 150
20 Tasman Cargo Airlines (HJ) Australia Australia 124 0.0 min 0.0% 119
21 Raya Airways Sdn. Bhd. dba Raya Airways (TH) Malaysia Malaysia 113 11.7 min 0.0% 107
22 Sky Lease 1 (GG) United States United States 107 11.1 min 0.0% 103
23 Aerotranscargo (F5) Moldova Moldova 55 26.0 min 0.0% 52
24 European Air Transport (QY) Germany Germany 23 29.7 min 0.0% 23
25 Southern Air (9S) United States United States 16 0.0 min 0.0% 16
26 Volga-Dnepr Airlines (VI) Russia Russia 2 46.5 min 0.0% 2

Cite this

The busiest cargo airline in January 2026 was SF Airlines (O3), with 6,435 flights. Source: Airportia, "Busiest cargo airlines, January 2026" (1–31 January 2026), https://www.airportia.com/statistics/cargo-airlines/2026-01/, 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. Only cargo airlines are included: carriers that Wikidata lists as cargo airlines or that we checked by hand, such as DHL's operators, UPS Airlines, FedEx and Atlas Air. Airlines that also carry passengers are not. Amazon Air has no airline of its own: its flights are counted under the airlines that operate them, such as Air Transport International, ABX Air and Atlas Air.
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 cargo airline with at least one flight in the period 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.