Busiest cargo airlines, May 2026

3,787 flights, Atlas Air (5Y)

The busiest cargo airline in May 2026 was Atlas Air (5Y), with 3,787 flights.

May 2026 (1–31 May 2026) Source: www.airportia.com/statistics/cargo-airlines/2026-05/

Period: 1–31 May 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, May 2026: top 15, flights1–31 May 2026. Source: Airportia.1. Atlas Air (5Y): 3,787 (3,682 flights)1. Atlas Air (5Y)3,7872. SF Airlines (O3): 3,661 (3,538 flights)2. SF Airlines (O3)3,6613. Air Transport International (8C): 2,808 (2,701 flights)3. Air Transport International (8C)2,8084. Yangtze River Express (Y8): 2,316 (2,230 flights)4. Yangtze River Express (Y8)2,3165. Empire Airlines (EM): 2,299 (2,180 flights)5. Empire Airlines (EM)2,2996. Swiftair (WT): 2,258 (2,136 flights)6. Swiftair (WT)2,2587. Silk Way West Airlines (7L): 1,663 (1,600 flights)7. Silk Way West Airlines (7L)1,6638. ABX Air (GB): 1,573 (1,513 flights)8. ABX Air (GB)1,5739. Alpine Air Express (5A): 1,557 (1,467 flights)9. Alpine Air Express (5A)1,55710. Air Incheon (KJ): 1,225 (1,160 flights)10. Air Incheon (KJ)1,22511. Kalitta Air (K4): 1,108 (1,071 flights)11. Kalitta Air (K4)1,10812. Amerijet International (M6): 1,033 (993 flights)12. Amerijet International (M6)1,03313. ASL Airlines Belgium (3V): 905 (860 flights)13. ASL Airlines Belgium (3V)90514. ASL Airlines France (5O): 481 (460 flights)14. ASL Airlines France (5O)48115. European Air Transport (QY): 445 (443 flights)15. European Air Transport (QY)445

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

Full ranking: 29 airlines

# Airline Country Flights Avg departure delay Cancelled Flights
1 Atlas Air (5Y) United States United States 3,787 43.5 min 0.1% 3,682
2 SF Airlines (O3) China China 3,661 12.2 min 0.0% 3,538
3 Air Transport International (8C) United States United States 2,808 27.0 min 0.0% 2,701
4 Yangtze River Express (Y8) China China 2,316 18.7 min 2.9% 2,230
5 Empire Airlines (EM) United States United States 2,299 8.2 min 0.0% 2,180
6 Swiftair (WT) Spain Spain 2,258 14.9 min 0.0% 2,136
7 Silk Way West Airlines (7L) Azerbaijan Azerbaijan 1,663 15.5 min 0.0% 1,600
8 ABX Air (GB) United States United States 1,573 16.7 min 0.0% 1,513
9 Alpine Air Express (5A) United States United States 1,557 21.3 min 0.0% 1,467
10 Air Incheon (KJ) South Korea South Korea 1,225 37.7 min 0.0% 1,160
11 Kalitta Air (K4) United States United States 1,108 30.4 min 0.0% 1,071
12 Amerijet International (M6) United States United States 1,033 28.3 min 0.0% 993
13 ASL Airlines Belgium (3V) Belgium Belgium 905 0.9 min 0.0% 860
14 ASL Airlines France (5O) France France 481 1.9 min 0.0% 460
15 European Air Transport (QY) Germany Germany 445 9.9 min 0.0% 443
16 K-Mile Air (8K) Thailand Thailand 437 17.9 min 0.0% 413
17 Ningxia Cargo Airlines CO.,LTD (HT) China China 339 10.4 min 0.0% 324
18 ULS Airlines Cargo (GO) Turkey Turkey 299 33.8 min 0.0% 280
19 Raya Airways Sdn. Bhd. dba Raya Airways (TH) Malaysia Malaysia 191 6.5 min 0.0% 184
20 Quikjet Cargo Airlines (QO) India India 145 4.9 min 0.0% 140
21 Air Cargo Global s.r.o. (CW) Slovakia Slovakia 138 18.4 min 0.0% 134
22 North-Western Cargo International Airlines (CO) China China 106 21.8 min 0.0% 100
23 Southern Air (9S) United States United States 89 0.0 min 0.0% 84
24 Tasman Cargo Airlines (HJ) Australia Australia 58 1.6 min 0.0% 56
25 Sky Lease 1 (GG) United States United States 46 10.2 min 0.0% 43
26 Aerotranscargo (F5) Moldova Moldova 39 68.5 min 0.0% 36
27 Aerosucre (G0) Colombia Colombia 26 0.0 min 0.0% 26
28 Uniworld Air Cargo Corp. (U7) Panama Panama 10 0.0 min 0.0% 10
29 Volga-Dnepr Airlines (VI) Russia Russia 8 100.7 min 0.0% 7

Cite this

The busiest cargo airline in May 2026 was Atlas Air (5Y), with 3,787 flights. Source: Airportia, "Busiest cargo airlines, May 2026" (1–31 May 2026), https://www.airportia.com/statistics/cargo-airlines/2026-05/, retrieved 3 November 2026.

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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.