Busiest cargo airlines, September 2026

4,996 flights, Atlas Air (5Y)

The busiest cargo airline in September 2026 was Atlas Air (5Y), with 4,996 flights.

September 2026 (1–30 September 2026) Source: www.airportia.com/statistics/cargo-airlines/2026-09/

Period: 1–30 September 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, September 2026: top 15, flights1–30 September 2026. Source: Airportia.1. Atlas Air (5Y): 4,996 (4,996 flights)1. Atlas Air (5Y)4,9962. European Air Transport (QY): 3,609 (3,609 flights)2. European Air Transport (QY)3,6093. SF Airlines (O3): 3,433 (3,433 flights)3. SF Airlines (O3)3,4334. Empire Airlines (EM): 3,326 (3,326 flights)4. Empire Airlines (EM)3,3265. Yangtze River Express (Y8): 2,682 (2,682 flights)5. Yangtze River Express (Y8)2,6826. Air Transport International (8C): 2,604 (2,604 flights)6. Air Transport International (8C)2,6047. Swiftair (WT): 2,497 (2,497 flights)7. Swiftair (WT)2,4978. Alpine Air Express (5A): 2,075 (2,075 flights)8. Alpine Air Express (5A)2,0759. Silk Way West Airlines (7L): 1,995 (1,995 flights)9. Silk Way West Airlines (7L)1,99510. ASL Airlines Belgium (3V): 1,923 (1,923 flights)10. ASL Airlines Belgium (3V)1,92311. ABX Air (GB): 1,875 (1,875 flights)11. ABX Air (GB)1,87512. Air Incheon (KJ): 1,636 (1,636 flights)12. Air Incheon (KJ)1,63613. Kalitta Air (K4): 1,372 (1,372 flights)13. Kalitta Air (K4)1,37214. Amerijet International (M6): 1,000 (1,000 flights)14. Amerijet International (M6)1,00015. ASL Airlines France (5O): 988 (988 flights)15. ASL Airlines France (5O)988

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 4,996 47.6 min 0.0% 4,996
2 European Air Transport (QY) Germany Germany 3,609 21.4 min 0.0% 3,609
3 SF Airlines (O3) China China 3,433 15.2 min 0.0% 3,433
4 Empire Airlines (EM) United States United States 3,326 19.8 min 0.0% 3,326
5 Yangtze River Express (Y8) China China 2,682 19.8 min 1.6% 2,682
6 Air Transport International (8C) United States United States 2,604 34.3 min 0.0% 2,604
7 Swiftair (WT) Spain Spain 2,497 17.5 min 0.0% 2,497
8 Alpine Air Express (5A) United States United States 2,075 19.0 min 0.0% 2,075
9 Silk Way West Airlines (7L) Azerbaijan Azerbaijan 1,995 20.1 min 0.1% 1,995
10 ASL Airlines Belgium (3V) Belgium Belgium 1,923 24.1 min 0.0% 1,923
11 ABX Air (GB) United States United States 1,875 26.5 min 0.0% 1,875
12 Air Incheon (KJ) South Korea South Korea 1,636 35.3 min 0.0% 1,636
13 Kalitta Air (K4) United States United States 1,372 41.2 min 0.1% 1,372
14 Amerijet International (M6) United States United States 1,000 41.1 min 0.0% 1,000
15 ASL Airlines France (5O) France France 988 15.8 min 0.0% 988
16 Ningxia Cargo Airlines CO.,LTD (HT) China China 524 13.9 min 0.0% 524
17 K-Mile Air (8K) Thailand Thailand 406 45.3 min 0.0% 406
18 Air Cargo Global s.r.o. (CW) Slovakia Slovakia 358 6.0 min 0.0% 358
19 Tasman Cargo Airlines (HJ) Australia Australia 297 9.5 min 0.0% 297
20 ULS Airlines Cargo (GO) Turkey Turkey 186 12.7 min 0.0% 186
21 Raya Airways Sdn. Bhd. dba Raya Airways (TH) Malaysia Malaysia 169 10.7 min 0.0% 169
22 North-Western Cargo International Airlines (CO) China China 150 23.8 min 0.0% 150
23 Southern Air (9S) United States United States 105 2.0 min 0.0% 105
24 Quikjet Cargo Airlines (QO) India India 68 91.1 min 0.0% 68
25 Uniworld Air Cargo Corp. (U7) Panama Panama 61 2.0 min 0.0% 61
26 Sky Lease 1 (GG) United States United States 55 9.3 min 0.0% 55
27 Aerosucre (G0) Colombia Colombia 24 0.0 min 0.0% 24
28 Aerotranscargo (F5) Moldova Moldova 16 61.5 min 0.0% 16
29 Volga-Dnepr Airlines (VI) Russia Russia 2 90.0 min 0.0% 2

Cite this

The busiest cargo airline in September 2026 was Atlas Air (5Y), with 4,996 flights. Source: Airportia, "Busiest cargo airlines, September 2026" (1–30 September 2026), https://www.airportia.com/statistics/cargo-airlines/2026-09/, retrieved 3 November 2026.

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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.