special report world airline rankings

flightglobal.com/airlines August 2012 | Airline Business | 31

CONTENTS

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SPECIAL REPORT WORLD AIRLINE RANKINGS

All our special reports are available online at flightglobal.com/airlines

Despite further increases in traffic and revenues, fuel price volatility cast an inescapable blight across global airline profits last year. Yet the 2011 World Airline Rankings show how widely different sectors and regions were able to cope

32 Revenue spread A graphic view of the standout performance and headline numbers in the 2011 World Airline Rankings

34 Regional view A review of the 2011 airline financial performances and analysis of key developments around the globe

44 The Top 150 financial rankings53 Airlines hold up traffic A review of airline

traffic figures in 2011 and the challenges for 2012

54 The Top 200 passenger rankings

flightglobal.com/ab32 | Airline Business | August 2012

WORLD AIRLINE RANKINGS SNAPSHOT

NORTH AMERICA

GRIP ON CAPACITY HELPS SUSTAIN IMPROVEMENTMixed fortunes for the North American majors; Delta Air Lines and United-Continental led profits for the region continuing their improved results, but American Airlines parent AMR incurred heavy losses as it filed for bankruptcy protection. North America was second only to Asia in 2011 profitability

REVENUE SPREADConditions closed in on the airline industry over the last year as the fuel cost burden mounted and economic growth stalled for many. This year’s World Airline Rankings illustrate the differing fortunes for the top 150 airlines by revenue in 2011

PROFIT

AIRLINES BATTLE TO KEEP A GRIPHigh fuel costs and a weakening economic picture for many have made it a battle to keep hold of profits. Net profits for the top 150 airlines slipped to $6 billion, of which low-cost carriers contributed almost a quarter. But it was a brighter story at an operating level, as profits – while down on 2010 – still topped $20 billion

Total revenue$666bn

Total profit$6.0bn

LATIN AMERICA

CONSOLIDATION LEADS LATIN GROWTHThe mergers of AviancaTaca and LAN with TAM, finally now completed, have dominated the Latin airline landscape. The region continues to expand rapidly, revenue growth of 23% was the fastest of the regions in 2011. But profits came under fire, particularly in the highly competitive Brazilian market

Europe$186bn

NorthAmerica$206bn

Africa$12bn

LatinAmerica$30bn

MiddleEast

$41bn

Asia-Pacific

$191bn

NORTH AMERICA

Europe$186bn

NorthAmerica$206bn

Africa$12bn

LatinAmerica$30bn

MiddleEast

$41bn

Asia-Pacific

$191bn

AFRICA

EUROPE

LATIN AMERICA

flightglobal.com/ab August 2012 | Airline Business | 33

REVENUE

STRONG SALES GROWTH STORYRevenues across the top 150 airlines jumped nearly 14% in 2011. Revenues at network carriers increased 12% to $526 billion, while they grew nearly 25% at low-cost operators in reaching $67 billion. Cargo revenues among the top 150 operators were up only 10% to reach $42 billion as the airfreight market struggled to pick up

Total revenue$666bn

Total profit$6.0bn

EUROPE

DEBT CRISIS BEGINS TO TAKE TOLL ON AIRLINESEuropean carriers lifted revenues 14% in 2011 and managed to largely cling on to their operating profits in 2011, despite the increasingly difficult operating environment as fuel volatility continued and the European sovereign debt crisis deepened. But net profits for the region were nearly wiped out

Europe$186bn

NorthAmerica$206bn

Africa$12bn

LatinAmerica$30bn

MiddleEast

$41bn

Asia-Pacific

$191bn

ASIA-PACIFIC

CARRIERS LEAD THE WAY ON PROFITS IN 2011Revenues for Asia-Pacific carriers within the top 150 grew 14% in 2011 as the region’s recent strong growth continues. While profit levels slipped on 2010, the Asia-Pacific region was still the most profitable. The potential for the region is underlined by the glut of recent airline start-up projects, notably in the low-cost space

Europe$186bn

NorthAmerica$206bn

Africa$12bn

LatinAmerica$30bn

MiddleEast

$41bn

Asia-Pacific

$191bn

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AFRICA

OIL PAIN TAKES TOLL ON AFRICAN CARRIERSSub-Saharan African operators saw much of the benefits of improved revenues in 2011 wiped out by the sharp increase in fuel, curtailing profits for many. Airlines in North Africa were also hit by the disruption to air travel last year from the spread of the Arab Spring to a number of countries in the region

Europe$186bn

NorthAmerica$206bn

Africa$12bn

LatinAmerica$30bn

MiddleEast

$41bn

Asia-Pacific

$191bn

ASIA-PACIFIC

MIDDLE EAST

C

TTT

MIDDLE EAST

GROWTH PATH CONTINUES BUT FUEL COSTS HIT HARDThe growth of mega-Gulf carriers continued apace in 2011, as Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways helped drive a 16% jump in revenues for Middle East airlines in 2011. Emirates’ profits took a hit from higher fuel costs, but Etihad was in 2011 able to record its first profit since its launch

Europe$186bn

NorthAmerica$206bn

Africa$12bn

LatinAmerica$30bn

MiddleEast

$41bn

Asia-Pacific

$191bn

flightglobal.com/ab

WORLD AIRLINE RANKINGS EUROPE

34 | Airline Business | August 2012

SHORT CUTSAs conditions continue to round on Europe’s carriers, they are again turning to cost control to stem losses

REPORTGRAHAM DUNN LONDON

Europe’s carriers as a whole saw net profitability almost wiped out in 2011. This year has already wit-nessed high-profile airline casual-ties, and the Association of Euro-

pean Airlines (AEA) projects operating losses among its members of around €1.5 billion ($1.8 billion). Traffic and economic growth forecasts for large parts of the region are flat or negligible. And all this assumes that govern-ments can resolve the sovereign debt that hangs over the region.

“2012 was predicted to have a gloomy, uncertain economic outlook,” says AEA’s act-ing secretary general, Athar Husain Khan, “and our forecasts are proving to be accurate.”

The climate of course differs by country and carrier. Airlines operating in fast-growing European markets outside of the EU, like Tur-key and Russia, grew strongly in 2011. And within the EU, low-cost carriers have, in the main, kept a grip on profitability.

It is network carriers large and small within the EU that are feeling the sharpest pressure. Europe’s big three network carrier groups – Air France-KLM, International Air-lines Group and Lufthansa – are all restruc-turing parts of their businesses, notably in short-haul operations. The financial figures for all three have, to differing extents, been weighed down, not just by higher fuel costs and the weak climate, but by under-perform-ing parts of the business.

Lufthansa’s net results were hard hit by costs associated with loss-making BMI – and

IAG led net profits among European carriers, aided by

British Airways’ performance

$776m

its sale to IAG. Iberia’s performance within the latter group lagged behind the robust Brit-ish Airways performance, while Air France contributed largely to the group’s overall operating loss last year.

At the other end of the scale, the tough environment, combined with a regulator clamping down on state-supported excesses of the past, makes survival the name of the game for many mid-sized European opera-tors. Many cannot confidently predict that they can do so alone. Malev, Spanair and Cimber Sterling have fallen by the wayside

already this year. Small wonder foreign investors, such as Etihad, which has already helped to rescue Air Berlin, are in demand.

The difficulty for these carriers is that there appear to be many more airlines on the block than suitors. Europe’s big carriers are busy getting their own houses in order, leaving them with little investment appetite for any-thing other than strategic no-brainers – such IAGs move for Heathrow-slot-laden BMI.

This leaves most of the potential saviours coming from outside the EU. There has been some activity. Gulf carriers Etihad and Qatar Airways – through its investment in Cargolux – have already shown an interest.

Turkish Airlines is also an active observer, though it was dissuaded from investing in LOT Polish Airlines by the limitations in for-eign ownership levels by non-EU carriers and quickly distanced itself from moves to invest in Aer Lingus for similar reasons.

Aer Lingus is one of a number of small or mid-sized European carriers where stakes are on the market. It is though in the enviable position – or unenviable depending on your perspective – of having at least one declara-tion of interest already from a bidder in the guise of existing shareholder and noisy neighbour Ryanair.

Amid this tough environment, attention has again turned to tackling costs. Air France-KLM’s Transform 2015 programme aims to cut its net debt by €2 billion; Lufthansa is tar-geting €1.5 billion in efficiency gains by 2014; Finnair aims to save €140 million by

flightglobal.com/ab

20102011

2,929

521

2010

2.5%

20102011

4,1323,348

2011

1.8%

2011

0.3%

2010

1.8%

OPERATINGRESULT, $m

NET RESULT, $m NET MARGINOPERATINGMARGIN

14.4%CHANGE

$186.2bnREVENUE 2011

August 2012 | Airline Business | 35

Read our recent analysis of the financial challenges facing European network carriers:flightglobal.com/FuelPain

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LARGEST GROUPS BY REVENUE

Rank Airline group Revenue $m

1 Lufthansa 40,164

2 Air France-KLM 34,109

3 IAG 22,839

4 Turkish Airlines 7,008

5 SAS Group 6,441

6 Ryanair 6,063

7 Air Berlin 5,909

8 EasyJet 5,552

9 Aeroflot 5,388

10 Alitalia 4,862

NET PROFIT LEADERS

Rank Airline group Net profits $m

1 IAG 776

2 Ryanair 774

3 Aeroflot 526

4 EasyJet 362

5 Thomson Airways 109

HEAVIEST LOSSES

Rank Airline group Net losses $m

1 Air France-KLM -1,131

2 Air Berlin -380

3 SAS -262

2014; SAS aims for SKr5 billion ($749 mil-lion) in savings during 2012-13.

“If you look at the really successful air-lines, the carriers that are thriving, a combi-nation of network and low-cost carriers, are those with an unrelenting focus on costs,” says Emre Serpen, head of airline practice at the Intervistas Consulting Group. “[The chal-lenge is to] keep reducing costs, focus on quality and give enough difference to the cus-tomer. Decide what your strength is. That’s where the good CEOs come in. They manage to maintain the short-term focus, but don’t lose sight of the strategic focus.”

COST CHALLENGEPeter Morris, chief economist at Flightglobal consultancy Ascend, says no network carrier will ever get their costs down to match those of their low-cost counterparts. “There are cer-tain sticking points for the legacy carriers, things like pilot conditions,” he says, yet notes the market means these carriers have to tackle such issues to compete. “You don’t have an option to ignore the market – it’s what the market is willing to pay,” he says.

“They have to carry on focusing on cost reduction, yet have to be conscious there will always be a gap, so it comes back to fre-quency, and service enhancement,” he adds.

The challenge, though, is that evolving low-cost carriers continue to encroach on the traditional network carrier territory – increas-ing frequency and enhancing their product offering to appeal to business travellers. “[Net-

work carriers have] got to look at it objectively on what the value is of these services [they offer],” he says. “What else have you got other than a bottle of champagne? What are the weapons they have left to fight with?”

So a decade on from the first European net-work carrier responses to the arrival of low-cost outfits, the incumbents in many ways find themselves back at square one and renewing their attack on short-haul. This is crucial in order for their overall business to work. Carriers must find a way to retain their feeder networks without wiping out their long-haul profits in the process .

Europe’s big three carrier groups are taking steps to address short-haul. Lufthansa will decide by spring 2013 how to restructure its intra-European network and merge its in-house narrowbody operations with low-cost subsidiary Germanwings; Air France has made overhauling its short and medium-haul operations central to its restructuring; and IAG launched Iberia Express to tackle short-haul challenges in the Spanish airline’s Madrid operations.

IAG is following a similar model at Iberia

Express as Iberia chose with Click Air – the budget operation it launched to operate short-haul out of Barcelona and which ultimately merged to form Vueling. With the axe hang-ing over Bmibaby, Vueling is one of the two last European network carrier budget affili-ates left standing, along with Lufthansa’s low-cost unit Germanwings.

Vueling’s chief executive, Alex Cruz, believes one of the keys to its success was that Iberia has given the carrier its independ-ence. “The starting point was we are going to let the people go and do it, and that was a big leap of faith,” he says.

“If you are a big airline, unless you are in a position of severe financial stress and you have the support of the government, the task of restructuring the short-haul operation is difficult,” Cruz adds.

He believes there is likely to be a move to lower-cost platforms two ways – “the friendly or unfriendly way”. Either will be through competition from low-cost carriers, which will have a substitution effect – while also growing the market – or through co-operation between the network carrier and low-cost partner, such as being seen with Eurowings/Lufthansa or the creation of Iberia Express.

“The 40-120 minutes flight segment will continue to be the industry’s premier battle-ground,” Cruz adds.

“The challenge is that evolving low-cost carriers continue to encroach on the traditional network

carrier territory”

flightglobal.com/ab

WORLD AIRLINE RANKINGS NORTH AMERICA


HOLDING FIRMNorth American carriers’ recent profitability continues as airlines keep capacity tight and look for further gains from regional fleet overhaul

REPORTEDWARD RUSSELL WASHINGTON DC

Since moving back into the black in 2010, the sustained profitabil-ity of North American carriers has been one of the brightest spots for the airline industry.

Amid continued tight capacity discipline, leading North American carriers posted col-lective profits of over $7 billion in 2011 – though net profits were much lower, in part hit by heavy losses at American Airlines par-ent AMR. Having striven so hard to reach profitability, there is a determination to retain it, which is evident in their performance so far this year. This was underlined when IATA’s eurozone-woes-dominated recent global fore-cast for 2012 quietly lifted projected North American carrier profits by $500 million.

Costs and capacity remain the focus of car-riers in North America. The former is largely a story of fuel and its history as a leading indi-cator of demand, while the largest airlines continue to maintain bearish attitudes to-wards the latter as they focus on improving return on invested capital (ROIC).

Fuel is the “largest and most volatile cost” for airlines in the region, notes industry body Airlines for America (A4A). The price of jet fuel has fluctuated from around $120 per bar-rel at the beginning of January to nearly $140 per barrel in March, before settling to about $110 per barrel at the end of June, according to the organisation’s calculations.

This volatility results in varied losses and gains for air carriers. In June, Delta Air Lines predicted it would take an $800 million writ-

edown on its fuel hedges and realise losses of $155 million in the second quarter because of declines in the spot market price of jet fuel.

One way Delta has addressed its fuel bill is through buying the Trainer oil refinery in Pennsylvania from Phillips for $180 million. The Atlanta-based carrier hopes that the refin-ery deal will result in about $300 million in annual savings once the plant begins opera-tions later this year. However, more than $100 million in upgrades are needed first.

Delta’s approach to fuel is innovative, to say the least, and other carriers as well as market

analysts are watching closely to see if it will succeed. Others, such as US Airways, have opted instead not to hedge jet fuel and are ex-pected to benefit from the declines in the price of jet fuel in the short- to medium-term. But the downward slide in the price of oil may not be a good thing.

UNDERLYING DEMAND“Historically, large changes in fuel prices have been a strong predictor of economic activity – and underlying demand for air travel,” Wil-liam Greene, senior transportation analyst at Morgan Stanley, said in a recent report. This could mean a decline in passenger demand, which, he says, typically lags behind fuel by three to four quarters. Demand is already slowing. IATA data shows traffic in RPKs in-creased only fractionally in North America in May, compared with a 1.3% year-on-year in-crease a month earlier. Traffic is running 1.9% higher for the year to date, but that compares with the 4.1% year-on-year growth seen for the same period in 2011.

But at the same time, IATA notes that carri-ers in North America have the highest load factors globally, at 83.4%, because of their continued capacity discipline.

Airlines have yet to officially acknowledge a slowdown. In a June investor update, United Airlines reported a 2.1% increase in six-week domestic advance bookings, and Alaska Air-lines reported that bookings were up to 3.5% higher through August.

However, one industry analyst notes that

US major Delta Air Lines and United-Continental led the way

on profits in a strong 2011

$854m

flightglobal.com/ab

20102011

3,346401

2010

5.7%

20102011

10,433

7,211

2011

3.5%

2011

0.2%

2010

1.8%

OPERATINGRESULT, $m


12.3%CHANGE



Spirit Airlines chief executive Ben Baldanza on how the low-cost carrier will expand: flightglobal.com/Baldanza

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1 United-Continental 37,110

2 Delta Air Lines 35,115

3 FedEx Express 26,515

4 AMR 23,979

5 Southwest Airlines 15,658

6 US Airways 13,341

7 Air Canada 11,779

8 UPS Airlines 5,941

9 JetBlue 4,509

10 Alaska Air 4,318

NET PROFIT LEADERS


1 Delta Air Lines 854

2 United-Continental 840

3 Alaska Air Group 245

4 US Airways 180

5 Southwest Airlines 178

HEAVIEST LOSSES


1 AMR -1,979

2 Air Canda -253

3 Republic Airways -151

continued capacity cuts are a signal to the market that airlines are not expecting good things in the near term.

North America’s two largest airlines, Delta and United, plan to shrink capacity by 1% and up to 1.5% respectively this year. South-west expects to keep capacity flat, while Air Canada and US Airways are predicting mod-est increases of 1.5% and 1% respectively.

American Airlines has not released its ca-pacity guidance for the year as it moves through the Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorgani-sation process, but is expected to cut capacity too. These carriers combined carry the vast majority of travellers in the region.

Smaller and low-cost airlines are still plan-ning growth. Allegiant Air, Hawaiian Airlines and Spirit Airlines plan to increase capacity by double digits this year, while Alaska Air-lines, JetBlue Airways and WestJet all plan mid-to-high single-digit increases.

However, these increases will have little impact on overall capacity as a result of these carriers’ relatively small share of the North American market.

NO GROWTH FOR GROWTH’S SAKE“Maintaining capacity discipline is a chal-lenge,” says Jamie Baker, an analyst at JP Mor-gan. “US airlines need to make sure they don’t succumb to the temptation to grow for growth’s sake. The industry can’t afford for anyone to fall off the wagon.”

Capacity cuts and continued discipline have led to rising airfares, improved margins

and higher ROIC at airlines in the region in recent years.

US Airways’ continuing pursuit of a merger with American could result in further de-creases in the coming years. Details of what a combination of the two airlines would look like have yet to emerge, but it is widely ex-pected that a merger would result in some ca-pacity cuts, as did the mergers of Delta and Northwest Airlines in 2008 and United and Continental Airlines in 2010.

In a recent report, Morgan Stanley estimat-ed that a merger between the airlines could result in a “mid-to-high single-digit” reduc-tion in capacity at the merged entity. Assum-ing a 9% cut, this would translate into about a 1.6% reduction in overall US passenger traf-fic, based on 2011 numbers from the US De-partment of Transportation.

“Consolidation is positive for airline funda-mentals in a number of ways,” Morgan Stanley’s Greene said in the report. He cites more rational fare pricing, labour expenses and capacity trends as being benefits of con-solidation.

US Airways expects American to begin dis-cussions on a potential merger following the bankruptcy court judge’s ruling on its labour contracts, which is expected in mid-August.

North American carriers are also looking at other ways to address costs and boost returns. Delta received approval from its pilots to im-plement a dramatic restructuring of its region-al fleet that could result in lower costs per pas-senger in June. Under the plan, it will remove

218 50-seat regional jets, which have some of the highest per passenger costs in the indus-try, for a total of 125 from its regional fleet by 2015 and will add 70 76-seat regional jets to its contract carrier fleets and 88 117-seat Boe-ing 717-200s to its mainline operations during the same period.

While this will result in a net increase of 4,716 seats in Delta’s combined fleets, the air-line hopes that it will result in lower costs per passenger and improved margins.

TENTATIVE AGREEMENTOther airlines are expected to follow Delta’s lead. The tentative agreement that American’s pilots will vote on in July would allow the air-line to add up to 195 large regional jets – those with 66 to 79 seats – and reduce the number of small regional jets. United is expected to pursue a similar strategy as contracts for 55% of its regional fleet expire during the next five years.

What the focus on cost and capacity boils down to at the region’s airlines is ROIC. Alas-ka has become the industry leader on this metric, reporting an 11.7% ROIC in 2011 and maintaining a company target of average an-nual returns above 10%. All of the region’s carriers are now focused on ROIC, and their respective strategies, which include reducing costs and improving margins, reflect this.

flightglobal.com/ab

WORLD AIRLINE RANKINGS ASIA-PACIFIC


POLE POSITIONAsia-Pacific’s carriers were again the most profitable in 2011 and the race is on to lead the way in the next stage of the region’s development

REPORTSIVA GOVINDASAMY SINGAPORE

Last year further underlined the profitability of the fast-growing Asia-Pacific airline sector. At a net and operating level, Asian carriers in the top 150 biggest airlines gen-

erated higher profits than any other region. Of the most profitable 10 carriers by net profit, half were from Asia-Pacific.

It continues the rapid growth in the region which has seen Asia-Pacific carriers move sharply up the airline rankings. Revenues for Asia-Pacific among the top 150 operators were just shy of $200 billion, second only to North America. Ten of the 20 biggest airlines in 2011 by revenue were from Asia. This compares with just five Asian carrier groups 10 years ago. This includes three mainland Chinese carriers. The top Chinese mainland operators ten years ago ranked 35th, 39th and 43rd respectively in 2012, underlining the dynamic growth of China’s airline sector.

While still the most profitable of the regions, the Asia-Pacific sector also saw profits fall on 2010 highs. Carriers could not escape the pain of rising fuel which hit all airlines in 2011, while Asia Pacific operators were harder hit than many others by the continued weak air freight market because of their relatively higher exposure to air cargo activities.

The likes of Thai Airways, Malaysia Air-lines and Korean Air all ended the year in the red; losses piled up in India’s struggling air-line market which continues to fail to fulfil its potential; and operating profits were even reined in for fast-growing Chinese carriers.

Restructuring at Japan Airlines has been successful, enabling it to report strong net profits

$2.4bn

Yet the long-term potential is undoubted and it is against this backdrop that some of the most dynamic activity in the industry is taking place in Asia. A string of new airline projects and initiatives have been set in motion over the last 18 month as airlines jockey for position in moves which could change the industry over the long term.

Top-tier airlines such as Singapore Air-lines, Qantas Airways and Cathay Pacific retain their lead, but could face a rather gloomy near-term outlook. Partly, this is because of the higher fuel prices and the fact that the premium market has not recovered as well as they thought it would after the 2008 financial crisis.

Star Alliance carrier Singapore Airlines had a rare quarterly loss in the three months to 31 March, although it did report a full-year profit, while Cathay and Qantas have issued profit warnings and said that the near-term outlook was gloomy. The challenge for them, however, is that they have to restructure their operations while fighting on several fronts to fend off competition.

In the short-haul market, this comes from growing low-cost carriers that have been more dominant in Southeast Asia but are increas-ingly making inroads in their white spot, Northeast Asia. This started with Malaysia’s AirAsia, which gradually set up affiliates in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines and will soon do so in Japan. Singapore’s Tiger Airways, which is one third owned by Singa-pore Airlines, is following that model with

IATA, in its most recent forecast for Asia-Pacific carriers, scaled back its profits expec-tations for the region this year to $2 billion. While that figure would still make it the most profitable of the regions, it is well under the near $5 billion profit Asia-Pacific carriers made last year.

IATA notes the region’s carriers have so far seen little sign of benefiting from the recent modest improvement in cargo, while also cit-ing the slowing of the key Chinese and Indian economies as factors for the slow-growth environment.

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flightglobal.com/ab

20102011

8,4895,177

2010

7.7%

20102011

12,844

8,369

2011

4.4%

2011

2.7%

2010

5.1%

OPERATINGRESULT, $m


14.0%CHANGE



More on ANA, Japan Airlines, Thai Airways and Malaysia Airlines in our IATA AGM daily papers:flightglobal.com/IATA12

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1 ANA Group 17,897

2 JAL Group 15,276

3 Air China 15,260

4 Qantas 14,842

5 China Southern 14,017

6 China Eastern 12,943

7 Cathay Pacific 12,649

8 Singapore Airlines 11,896

9 Korean Air 10,676

10 Thai Airways 6,361

NET PROFIT LEADERS


1 Japan Airlines 2,366

2 Air China 1,095

3 China Southern 944

4 Cathay Pacific 729

5 China Eastern 689

HEAVIEST LOSSES


1 Malaysia Airlines -825

2 Kingfisher Airlines -484

3 Thai Airways -333

Australian, Indonesian and Filipino opera-tions. More could follow for both.

Qantas’s main Jetstar subsidiary is based in Australia, but there are Jetstar affiliates across the region in Singapore, Vietnam and Japan. Qantas also plans to set up a Jetstar-branded airline in Hong Kong as a joint venture with China Eastern Airlines, potentially giving it access into the highly lucrative Chinese mar-ket. Spring Airlines, the sole Chinese low-cost carrier, plans to set up a Japanese affiliate within the next year.

Full-service carriers must also compete with the growing long-haul low-cost phe-nomenon, which could see four participants from Southeast Asia itself in 2013 – and that, too, in a market segment that has not yet proven if it can deliver profit on a sustainable basis. AirAsia was again the pioneer here with its AirAsia X affiliate.

Jetstar had been offering these with Airbus A330s from Australia to some limited mar-kets, and Singapore-based Jetstar Asia has moved into the market as well. Philippine carrier Cebu Pacific has also announced that

it will begin long-haul services in 2013, but the most intriguing entrant into this segment is Singapore Airlines itself.

RETURN TO LEISUREThe Star Alliance carrier’s Scoot subsidiary began operations in June with flights to Aus-tralia, and will soon fly to Taipei, Tokyo and Tianjin. SIA’s plan is to use Scoot to return to the leisure market, from which it has largely withdrawn during the past few years. Scoot, as well as AirAsia X, Jetstar and Cebu Pacific, aim squarely at a growing group of passen-gers from Australia and Southeast Asia who have more disposable income than the previ-ous generation, and do not mind sacrificing comfort for cost.

The tier two full-service carriers, however, are responding. Airlines such as Garuda Indonesia, Thai Airways, Malaysia Airlines, and the three main Chinese airlines have also been restructuring their product and improv-ing their network – partly in response to the low-cost carriers, but also to get some of the traffic that now goes to the bigger names. They may not get to the same level as SIA, Cathay and Qantas in the full-service seg-ment – but they could get close enough to grab some passengers and make a dent.

At the same time, they are also making their own inroads into the low-cost market. Garuda is busy transforming its Citilink sub-sidiary into a proper low-cost carrier in response to the growing presence of Indone-sian rival Lion Air. And the latter, which has

made major inroads into the domestic mar-ket, plans to set up a full-service subsidiary. Lion will launch Batik Air next year with Boeing 737-900ERs, and has also signed a commitment to add Boeing 787s for the ven-ture.

Thai Airways meanwhile has started up a full-service regional carrier, Thai Smile, to serve the premium market. The carrier also plans to set up a low-cost carrier as part of a joint venture with Nok Air.

BIG IN JAPANIn Northeast Asia, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways are to push into the low-cost market via joint ventures with Jetstar and AirAsia respectively. It is still not clear when, or if, Jetstar Hong Kong will get the go-ahead, but one or two low-cost airlines could also emerge in Taiwan in the next year and start services into China. Yet mainland Chinese carriers, by and large, remain protected. This is important for them, especially since many of their domestic operations remain low-fare full-service airlines. But there is growing speculation that one or two of Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines could set up a proper low-cost car-rier to have the first-mover advantage. And industry sources say that the likes of AirAsia and Jetstar will find it hard to plant their flag

While still the most profitable of the regions, the Asia-Pacific sector also saw profits fall on

2010 highs

flightglobal.com/ab

WORLD AIRLINE RANKINGS MIDDLE EAST


Read our recent cover interview with Qatar Airways chief Akbar Al Baker at: flightglobal.com/AlBaker

MAX KINGSLEY-JONES LONDON

20102011

1,430

-1042010

3.6%

20102011

1,293

662011

0.2%

2011

-0.3%

2010

4.0%

OPERATINGRESULT, $m


15.0%CHANGE

$41.1bnREVENUE 2011

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1 Emirates Group 16,958

2 Qatar Airways 6,825

3 Saudia 5,500

4 Etihad Airways 4,100

5 El Al 2,043

NET PROFIT LEADERS


1 Emirates 441

2 Air Arabia 75

3 Middle East Airlines 64

A strong rise in revenues among the Middle East carriers, led by Emirates, was more than offset by the impact of high fuel prices, which saw overall

net profitability tumble into the red. However strong growth and a good hedging policy helped local rival Etihad Airways become profitable for the first time.

Revenue for the Middle East’s top 10 air-lines increased by around 15% last year, to $41.1 billion. Once again Emirates Group reported the highest figure, contributing more than two-fifths of the total amount.

The Dubai carrier’s revenue grew by around 15% in 2011-2012 to reach $18.4 billion on a 10% jump in passenger traffic. But its net profit fell sharply to $441 million as rising fuel costs hit home.

Emirates shared its pain, revealing that its fuel

Middle East carriers have posted healthy increases in revenue but are feeling the pain of soaring fuel costs

FUEL BILLS HIT PROFIT

bill increased by 44% to Dh24.3 billion and con-tributed to a 24% increase in operating costs.

Down the road in Abu Dhabi, Etihad broke into the black for the first time, nine years after launch, with an operating profit (EBIT) of $137 million and a net profit of $14 million, on revenue of $4.1 billion. The airline’s chief executive, James Hogan, credits the success to a good fuel-hedging policy, cost control and high load factors.

INCREASING INVOLVEMENT“It’s about brand maturity, network and scale all coming together,” he says. “I’ve moved into profitability and I’ll stay there.”

Although the three Gulf network carriers are all unaligned from a global alliance per-spective, there has been increasing involve-ment between them and other airlines around the world.

Qatar Airways kick-started this last year with its 35% stake in Cargolux. Etihad has been more prolific of late, concluding a string of share deals, starting last December with the acquisition of a 29% stake in struggling Ger-man carrier Air Berlin.

Subsequent deals have seen Etihad acquire small stakes in Aer Lingus and Vir-gin Australia, as well as take a 40% holding in Air Seychelles.

The thinking behind these deals – and the many codeshare deals it has signed up – is to gain access to new markets “at the end of our network”, says Hogan.

Discussions are also being held with Air France-KLM about a codeshare tie-up and perhaps more – although Hogan dismisses talk of a wider partnership agreement as “speculation”. While Emirates’ anti-alliance position is well documented, the situation with its two rivals is less clear and specula-tion is rife that, sooner rather than later, Qatar Airways or Etihad will join one of the three global groupings.

Meanwhile, Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al Baker is preparing for the opening of the new Doha international airport, which is due to be completed early next year. “It won’t be a phased opening, everyone will transfer to the new airport in one go,” he says.


WORLD AIRLINE RANKINGS LATIN AMERICA

20102011

1,340

247

2010

7.2%

20102011

1,7681,744

2011

5.8%

2011

0.8%

2010

5.5%

OPERATINGRESULT, $m


23.2%CHANGE

$30.1bnREVENUE 2011

Gar

eth

JJ B

urge

ss



1 TAM 7,574

2 LAN 5,718

3 GOL 4,515

4 AviancaTaca 3,815

5 Aeromexico 2,872

GHIM-LAY YEO BOGOTA & WASHINGTON DC

NET PROFIT LEADERS


1 LAN 320

2 Copa 310

3 Aeromexico 167

When in June the merger between LAN Group and Brazilian operator TAM was finally completed, it created the largest airline

group in fast-growing Latin America.LATAM Airlines would have generated

combined revenues in excess of $13 billion last year based on their individual returns. This would have made it the 16th biggest air-line group in the world, underlining its impor-tance on the global stage.

Small wonder there has been a tug of war from alliances for the merged carrier. A deci-sion is still to come, but as a competition rul-ing attached to the merger blocks LATAM being in the same alliance as recent Star Alli-ance recruit AviancaTaca, LAN’s existing rela-tionship puts Oneworld in the box seat.

The new partners are initially concentrat-ing on integrating their networks and fleets,

Latin American powerhouses dominate new landscape

MERGING CHANGE

says LATAM chief executive Enrique Cueto. The two airlines, in the meantime, will con-tinue to operate separately under their indi-vidual brands. “TAM is a very strong brand in Brazil so we want to keep it as it is,” says Cueto, who expects 27% of LATAM’s overall revenue to come from TAM’s domestic Brazil operations. “It would be a little risky to begin with a new brand now,” he adds, although he envisages a single brand to be a possibility in about two to three years’ time.

Cueto says LAN and TAM overlap on about 3% of the routes, meaning significant poten-tial for new routes such as Sao Paulo-Cordoba. “TAM could not fly to Cordoba, but we are very strong in the Argentinean market,” he says Cueto, pointing to LAN’s presence in the country through its Argentinian affiliate.

Cueto expects the route integration between LAN and TAM to take place this year and stretch into the first half of 2013.

The creation of LATAM marks the second recent big-ticket merger in the region. The combination of Avianca and Taca consolidates a pool of carriers in Central American coun-tries such as Colombia, El Salvador and Ecua-dor. It estimates synergies resulting from the merger will top $219 million in 2012.

One of the group’s first tasks was to stream-line a combined fleet that comprised 135 air-craft across 11 aircraft types. The fleet now consists of 155 aircraft and six aircraft types. It has also just completed its entry into Star Alli-ance, alongside Panama’s Copa Airlines.

Next is an effort to consolidate the airlines in the group under a single branding of Avi-anca, explains chief operating officer Estuardo Ortiz. The group has signed an IT deal with Amadeus to roll out a common customer management system across its airlines to inte-grate operations, and hopes to be able to oper-ate all flights under a common airline code, AV, in the first half of 2013. But there is no definite plan yet to bring Avianca Brazil, run separately from the group and owned by AviancaTaca’s majority shareholder Synergy Group. into the group.

Elsewhere, Brazil has been at the centre of consolidation activity. After the region’s sec-ond-largest carrier, GOL, acquired fellow low-cost operator WebJet, fast-growing regional carriers Azul and Trip have announced plans to merge. The deal could, based on 2011 reve-nues, create an operation which would already be the sixth largest in the region.


WORLD AIRLINE RANKINGS AFRICA

Fuel takes toll on African airline profits in tough year

DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW & MAX KINGSLEY-JONES BEIJING

For African airlines still struggling to unlock the potential of the conti-nent’s fragmented aviation market, fuel has been a heavy burden. Sub-saharan Africa’s big three carriers

have continued to grow, lifting revenues and traffic. But profits among Kenya Airways, South African Airways and Ethiopian Air-ways in their most recent financial years were curtailed by rising fuel costs.

Kenya Airways’ net profits more than halved to Kenyan shillings (KSh) 1.66 billion ($18.7 million). While revenues grew a quar-ter, its costs jumped a third. Its fuel costs were 64% higher, the increased oil price exacer-bated by the weak Kenyan shilling.

SAA and Ethiopian Airlines are still to report their most recent financial years, but during the recent IATA annual general meet-ing in Beijing both pointed to the weight of fuel costs. SAA chief executive Siza Mzimela

20102011

270

-244

2010

1.9%

20102011

219

-16 2011

-0.1%

2011

-2.1%

2010

2.4%

OPERATINGRESULT, $m


1.8%CHANGE

$11.7bnREVENUE 2011

Gar

eth

JJ B

urge

ss



1 South African Airways 3,200

2 Royal Air Maroc 1,607

3 Ethiopian Airlines 1,517

4 EgyptAir 1,500

5 Kenya Airways 1,213

NET PROFIT LEADERS


1 Ethiopian Airlines 74

2 Kenya Airways 18.7

3 Air Mauritius -40

SLIM PICKINGS

says the airline has suffered despite a rise in revenue, load factors and yield in the last financial year. “Unfortunately, all of that got wiped out by the increase in costs, mainly because of fuel,” she says. This means SAA’s results will “not be very positive”, she adds.

To address this, the airline is stepping up cost-reduction efforts, and is moving aircraft around to boost yield. It has also been review-ing its network to eliminate any weak routes, it cut Cape Town-London in August, and increasing aircraft utilisation. “There is still a lot we can do around our cost base on top of the work we did last year,” says Mzimela.

Ethiopian Airlines chief executive Tewolde Gebremariam stresses that the carrier, whose financial year ends in June, is profitable, even if it “might not have been as profitable as expected” in the Vision 2025 plan, owing to fuel prices. “But growth has been beyond our expectations,” he says, indicating it has

achieved a traffic rise of 30% and forecasts a repeat for the next fiscal year.

The Star Alliance carrier is aiming to start Sao Paulo services this year, having identified Brazil as a crucial market, and intends to feed the flights with its Togolese operator ASKY. Gebremariam says the carrier will have a “heavy emphasis” on Brazil, China and India and says these countries will drive the “huge growth” central to its Vision 2025 strategy.

Key issues impacting carriers in the region include the continued slow progress on liber-alising African skies, while at the same time combating the competition from overseas car-riers. “We cannot compete with carriers from outside Africa unless we make our airlines strong by opening up the African market,” says Elijah Chingosho, secretary-general of the African Airlines Association (AFRAA). “In the process, some smaller airlines are going to disappear, but it will strengthen some of our carriers to take on the world carriers.

“Our major threat comes from outside Africa. The big carriers realise that Africa is a growing market and are coming in. And open-ing up the market is the only way we can strengthen African airlines,” he adds.

Meanwhile, carriers in North Africa con-tinue to look for political stability after a tumultuous 2011 for many countries in the region as the Arab Spring spread. Traffic and revenues for many carriers were hard hit last year as air services were disrupted during the political upheaval.


WORLD AIRLINE RANKINGS FINANCIAL

ANALYSIS BY FLIGHTGLOBAL INSIGHT DATA COMPILED BY SILVA ISHAK FLIGHTGLOBAL DATA RESEARCH

TOP AIRLINE GROUPS BY REVENUETOP AIRLINE GROUPS RANKED BY REVENUES 2011: 1 TO 50

Ranking Group/Airline Country Revenues Change (%) Operating result ($m) Operating margin (%)2011 (2010) ($m) Local In US$ 2011 2010 2011 2010

1 (1) Lufthansa Group Germany 40,164 8.6 15.0 1,146 1,346 2.9 3.9 2 (2) United-Continental Holdings USA 37,110 8.8 1,822 1,919 4.9 5.6 3 (3) Delta Air Lines USA 35,115 10.6 1,975 2,217 5.6 7.0 4 (4) Air France-KLM Group France 34,109 3.3 9.0 -493 162 -1.4 0.5 5 (5) FedEx Express USA 26,515 7.9 1,260 1,228 4.8 5.0 6 (6) AMR USA 23,979 8.2 -1,054 308 -4.4 1.4 7 (7) International Airlines Group UK/Spain 22,839 10.4 16.9 569 297 2.5 1.5 8 (9) ANA Group Japan 17,897 4.0 12.1 1,230 797 6.9 5.0 9 (10) Emirates Group United Arab Emirates 16,958 14.9 14.9 494 1,482 2.9 10.0 10 (14) Southwest Airlines USA 15,658 29.4 693 988 4.4 8.2 11 (8) Japan Airlines Group Japan 15,276 -11.6 -4.6 2,598 2,216 17.0 13.8 12 (11) Air China China 15,260 19.3 25.1 971 1,617 6.4 13.2 13 (13) Qantas Australia 14,842 8.1 22.2 642 223 4.3 1.8 14 (16) China Southern Airlines China 14,017 18.2 23.9 675 929 4.8 8.2 15 (12) US Airways USA 13,341 9.4 434 781 3.3 6.4 16 (17) China Eastern Airlines China 12,943 12.1 17.5 647 843 5.0 7.7 17 (15) Cathay Pacific Group Hong Kong 12,649 9.9 9.8 707 1,813 5.6 15.7 18 (18) Singapore Airlines Group Singapore 11,896 2.3 8.6 229 959 1.9 8.8 19 (19) Air Canada Canada 11,779 7.2 12.5 182 269 1.5 2.6 20 (20) Korean Air South Korea 10,676 3.0 8.0 356 96 3.3 1.0 21 (21) TAM Linhas Aereas Brazil 7,574 12.8 18.8 358 463 4.7 7.3 22 (24) Turkish Airlines Turkey 7,008 38.0 23.8 60 319 0.9 5.6 23 (25) Qatar Airways Group Qatar 6,825 26.8 24 (22) SAS Group Sweden 6,441 0.8 6.8 100 -285 1.6 -4.7 25 (23) Thai Airways International Thailand 6,361 5.5 9.3 -80 689 -1.3 11.8 26 (29) Ryanair Ireland 6,063 21.0 26.1 944 647 15.6 13.5 27 (28) UPS Airlines USA 5,941 21.0 342 230 5.8 4.7 28 (27) Air Berlin Germany 5,909 9.8 16.3 -346 -22 -5.8 -0.4 29 (31) LAN Airlines Chile 5,718 26.4 540 623 9.4 13.8 30 (30) EasyJet UK 5,552 16.1 19.9 433 270 7.8 5.8 31 (26) Saudia Est* Saudi Arabia 5,500 3.8 3.8 32 (34) Aeroflot Russia 5,388 20.5 25.1 389 480 7.2 11.1 33 (35) Alitalia Italy 4,862 7.8 14.2 -8 -141 -0.2 -3.3 34 (33) Asiana Airlines South Korea 4,821 5.8 10.9 311 491 6.4 11.3 35 (36) Malaysia Airlines Malaysia 4,549 2.3 7.4 -751 55 -16.5 1.3 36 (38) GOL Transportes Aereos Brazil 4,515 8.0 13.7 -87 397 -1.9 10.0 37 (40) JetBlue Airways USA 4,509 19.3 324 344 7.2 9.1 38 (32) China Airlines Taiwan 4,493 -4.3 2.1 -53 470 -1.2 10.7 39 (37) Virgin Atlantic Group Est* UK 4,400 1.6 5.5 40 (39) Alaska Air Group USA 4,318 12.7 449 472 10.4 12.3 41 (47) Etihad Airways United Arab Emirates 4,100 37.6 137 3.3 42 (42) Hainan Airlines Group China 4,074 21.0 26.9 495 415 12.1 12.9 43 (45) AviancaTaca Colombia 3,815 21.2 24.7 282 264 7.4 8.6 44 (50) SkyWest Airlines * USA 3,655 32.2 41 202 1.1 7.3 45 (41) EVA Air Taiwan 3,472 -2.1 4.4 15 403 0.4 12.1 46 (48) Air New Zealand New Zealand 3,315 7.3 16.6 83 106 2.5 3.7 47 (53) Virgin Australia Australia 3,260 9.7 24.0 -18 69 -0.6 2.6 48 (44) Air India Est* India 3,250 9.6 3.8 -822 -26.2 49 (46) TAP Portugal Portugal 3,215 -0.7 5.2 57 -1 1.8 -0.0 50 (43) South African Airways Est* South Africa 3,200 3.8 0.4 *SkyWest includes acquisition of ExpressJet; Est Airline Business estimates used where full-year figures are unavailable to give an indication of the airline’s revenue ranking See P51 for methodology details.

August 2012 | Airline Business | 45flightglobal.com/ab

Net result ($m) Net margin (%) Mainline operating revenues by division ($m) Period Notes2011 2010 2011 2010 Passenger Change (%) Cargo Change (%) to end:

-18 1,452 -0 4 28,702 18.2 4,536 12.2 Dec 11840 955 2 3 32,511 9.0 1,167 0.6 Dec 11854 593 2 2 30,257 11.0 1,027 20.8 Dec 11

-1,131 812 -3 3 26,326 9.8 4,393 5.0 Dec 11May 12

-1,979 -471 -8 -2 20,671 8.3 703 4.6 Dec 11776 132 3 1 19,115 17.5 1,663 15.0 Dec 11357 274 2 2 12,318 12.3 1,535 10.3 Mar 12441 1,488 3 10 13,327 18.2 2,599 8.4 Mar 12178 459 1 4 Dec 11 Includes AirTran since May 2011

2,366 15 10,984 999 -23.1 Mar 121,095 1,825 7 15 12,950 28.5 1,525 2.3 Dec 11

249 102 2 1 12,000 24.4 839 15.9 Jun 11944 949 7 8 Dec 11180 599 1 5 Dec 11 Source: US DOT689 779 5 7 10,612 21.6 1,253 0.5 Dec 11729 1,832 6 16 8,712 14.0 3,339 0.2 Dec 11269 824 2 8 Mar 12-253 -23 -2 -0 10,355 13.6 488 8.3 Dec 11-272 398 -3 4 6,353 43.4 3,163 25.2 Dec 11-253 336 -3 5 6,390 20.7 702 11.4 Dec 11

11 189 0 3 6,085 24.6 573 38.3 Dec 11220 4 5,283 28.0 997 19.4 Mar 12 Airline estimates. Pax and cargo figures for airline only

-262 -326 -4 -5 4,743 7.9 225 0.3 Dec 11-333 467 -5 8 5,061 10.6 919 3.1 Dec 11774 496 13 10 4,839 29.2 Mar 12130 195 2 4 5,795 21.9 Dec 11 Source: US DOT-380 -140 -6 -3 5,391 15.6 Dec 11320 420 6 9 4,009 28.9 1,577 23.1 Dec 11362 189 7 4 4,396 17.5 Sep 11

Dec 11 Source: Airline Business estimate526 278 10 6 4,196 23.2 278 -2.3 Dec 11-96 -222 -2 -5 Dec 1115 208 0 5 Dec 11

-825 74 -18 2 3,392 16.0 569 -9.1 Dec 11-401 122 -9 3 4,021 12.5 Dec 11

86 97 2 3 4,150 13 Dec 11-66 338 -1 8 Dec 11

Feb 12 Source: Airline Business estimate245 251 6 7 3,951 13.2 109 2.4 Dec 1114 0 2,960 23.8 651 25.7 Dec 11

439 476 11 15 3,609 30.1 143 17.1 Dec 11109 33 3 1 3,342 28.0 387 10.4 Dec 11-27 96 -1 3 3,585 31.6 Dec 11

7 383 0 12 Dec 1162 58 2 2 2,692 16.0 212 18.5 Jun 11-68 19 -2 1 2,945 23.4 Jun 11

-1,508 -48 Mar 12 Source: Airline Business estimate4 -70 0 -2 Dec 11

91 3 Mar 12 Source: Airline Business estimate



TOP AIRLINE GROUPS RANKED BY REVENUES 2011: 51 TO 100

Ranking Group/Airline Country Revenues Change (%) Operating result ($m) Operating margin (%)2011 (2010) ($m) Local In US$ 2011 2010 2011 2010

51 (49) Jet Airways India 3,157 17.3 11.2 -74 215 -2.4 7.6 52 (54) WestJet Airlines Canada 3,116 17.8 21.0 260 189 8.4 7.3 53 (58) Garuda Indonesia Indonesia 3,091 47.8 52.5 115 -15 3.7 -0.7 54 (52) Thomson Airways UK 2,983 9.8 13.4 256 148 8.6 5.6 55 (59) Transaero Airlines Russia 2,948 42.1 47.5 82 87 2.8 4.4 56 (57) Aeromexico Mexico 2,872 27.5 29.4 275 214 9.6 9.6 57 (51) Republic Airways Holdings USA 2,865 7.9 -106 133 -3.7 5.0 58 (55) Finnair Finland 2,757 13.1 19.8 -62 -10 -2.3 -0.5 59 (56) Air Transat Canada 2,619 7.9 14.4 60 (61) Vietnam Airlines Est* Vietnam 2,200 27.0 17.3 61 (60) El Al Israel 2,043 3.6 -43 88 -2.1 4.5 62 (73) Norwegian Norway 1,892 22.5 33.4 75 35 3.9 2.4 63 (63) Cargolux Luxembourg 1,867 8.4 64 (75) UTair Aviation Russia 1,845 27.6 32.4 9 74 0.5 5.3 65 (68) Air Europa Spain 1,830 12.2 16.2 -10 60 -0.6 3.8 66 (74) Copa Airlines Panama 1,830 29.7 385 263 21.0 18.6 67 (69) Condor Germany 1,802 12.5 16.1 111 84 6.2 5.4 68 (66) Aer Lingus Ireland 1,801 6.0 12.2 69 69 3.8 4.3 69 (64) Volga-Dnepr Airlines Russia 1,752 6.8 90 304 5.1 18.5 70 (65) Philippine Airlines Philippines 1,712 -0.8 4.7 -94 108 -5.5 6.6 71 (71) Jazz Canada 1,688 12.0 17.5 103 84 6.1 5.8 72 (76) Hawaiian Airlines USA 1,651 25.8 25 95 1.5 7.3 73 (70) Royal Air Maroc Morocco 1,607 4.5 7.1 74 (77) S7 Airlines Russia 1,543 13.7 18.0 117 138 7.6 10.5 75 (78) Ethiopian Airlines Ethiopia 1,517 47.2 17.3 25 106 1.7 8.2 76 (67) Thomas Cook Airlines (UK) Est* UK 1,500 -9.2 -6.0 58 3.6 77 (62) Egyptair Est* Egypt 1,500 -14.1 -18.8 24 1.3 78 (84) Shandong Airlines China 1,499 32.6 38.9 154 122 10.3 11.3 79 (81) AirAsia Malaysia 1,464 13.3 18.9 392 333 26.8 27.0 80 (82) Brussels Airlines Belgium 1,449 11.4 18.0 -16 -1.3 81 (79) Pakistan International Airlines Pakistan 1,345 8.4 6.6 -207 8 -15.4 0.7 82 (86) Kalitta Air USA 1,286 19.8 48 145 3.7 13.5 83 (80) Atlas Air USA 1,285 4.0 146 234 11.4 18.9 84 (90) Pinnacle Airlines USA 1,232 20.7 1 62 0.1 6.085 (87) Kenya Airways Kenya 1,213 25.7 13.7 15 72 1.2 6.8 86 (88) Vueling Airlines Spain 1,207 8.4 14.8 16 79 1.3 7.5 87 (83) Aerolineas Argentinas Est* Argentina 1,200 2.2 -486 -41.4 88 (96) IndiGo Est* India 1,200 46.2 38.5 89 (72) Kingfisher Airlines India 1,189 -12.0 -16.6 -249 -22 -20.9 -1.6 90 (102) Spirit Airlines USA 1,071 37.1 144 69 13.5 8.8 91 (92) LOT Polish Airlines Poland 1,065 6.5 8.8 -49 -54 -4.6 -5.5 92 (89) Nippon Cargo Airlines Japan 1,049 -5.8 1.6 54 102 5.1 9.9 93 (93) Royal Jordanian Airlines Jordan 1,038 7.5 7.3 -84 22 -8.1 2.3 94 (106) Virgin America USA 1,037 43.2 -27 -12 -2.6 -1.7 95 (111) Skymark Airlines Japan 1,018 38.3 50.2 236 163 23.2 24.1 =96 (85) Gulf Air Est* Bahrain 1,000 -6.9 -6.9 =96 Lion Air Est* Indonesia 1,000 98 (95) Flybe UK 987 3.3 6.4 -8 -1 -0.8 -0.2 99 (100) Wizz Air Est* Hungary 950 12.1 18.8 100 (94) Monarch Airlines Est* UK 950 -3.9 -0.5 -2 -0.2 NOTES: Est Airline Business estimates have been used where full-year figures are unavailable to give an indication of the airline’s revenue ranking.


Net result ($m) Net margin (%) Mainline operating revenues by division ($m) Period Notes2011 2010 2011 2010 Passenger Change (%) Cargo Change (%) to end:

-257 2 -8 0 Mar 12151 89 5 3 2,830 19.9 Dec 1198 57 3 3 2,695 46.3 164 21.6 Dec 11

109 -76 4 -3 Sep 1162 19 2 1 Dec 11

167 188 6 8 2,575 29.4 78 54.0 Dec 11-152 -14 -5 -1 2,774 7.9 Dec 11-122 -30 -4 -1 2,238 339 34.6 Dec 11

Oct 1118 1 Dec 11 Source: Airline Business estimate

-49 57 -2 3 1,830 3.7 111 -5.2 Dec 1122 28 1 2 1,635 37.4 Dec 11-18 60 -1 3 Dec 11

9 7 0 1 Dec 11 Source: RAS-13 23 -1 1 1,805 16.5 14 8.1 Oct 11

310 212 17 15 Dec 11Sep 11

100 57 6 4 1,493 13.0 60 10.3 Dec 1159 250 3 15 1,722 6.0 Dec 11-36 100 -2 6 Dec 11 Based on reported quarters for calendar year69 54 4 4 1,681 17.5 Dec 118 114 0 9 1,542 33.5 38 Dec 11 Source: US DOT

-215 -13 Oct 1125 3 2 0 Dec 1175 125 5 10 1,163 18.1 190 41.5 Jun 11

33 2 Sep 11 Source: Airline Business estimateJun 11 Source: Airline Business estimate

120 94 8 9 Dec 11 Source: SINA185 331 13 27 1,007 14.1 Dec 11-112 7 -8 1 Dec 11-309 -244 -23 -19 1,195 5.2 74 -7.8 Dec 11

45 136 3 13 669 -20.2 Dec 11 Source: US DOT80 137 6 11 33 141.2 1,176 2.4 Dec 11-31 13 -3 1 1,213 20.7 Dec 1119 44 2 4 1,070 14.3 99 22.2 Mar 1215 61 1 6 1,071 15.4 Dec 11

-0 -0 Dec 11 Source: Airline Business estimate143 16 Mar 12 Source: Airline Business estimate

-484 -226 -41 -16 Mar 1276 73 7 9 690 28.2 Dec 11

-17 -2 Dec 1143 131 4 13 Mar 12-82 14 -8 1 850 7.2 73 6.1 Dec 11

-100 -69 -10 -9 951 45.1 Dec 1198 74 10 11 1 -99.9 Mar 12

Dec 11 Source: Airline Business estimateDec 11 Source: Airline Business estimate

-10 6 -1 1 740 6.4 Mar 12Dec 11 Source: Airline Business estimate

-6 -1 Oct 11 Source: Airline Business estimate



TOP AIRLINE GROUPS RANKED BY REVENUES 2011: 101 TO 150

Ranking Group/Airline Country Revenues Change (%) Op result ($m) Op margin (%) Net result ($m) Period Notes2011 (2010) $ million In US$ 2011 2011 2010 2011 2010 to end:

101 (103) Aegean Airlines Greece 934 19.7 -43 -4.6 -2.1 -38 -31 Dec 11102 (112) SunExpress Turkey 931 38.1 -3.6 -7 Dec 11103 (97) Meridianafly Italy 904 6.1 -145 -16.0 -6.4 -155 -61 Dec 11104 (128) Azul Lineas Aereas Est* Brazil 900 71.5 -7.5 -50 Dec 11 Source: Airline Business est105 (91) Czech Airlines Czech Rep 855 -14.5 -105 -12.2 0.7 -50 -8 Dec 11106 (101) Kuwait Airways Kuwait 846 7.8 -280 -33.1 -34.5 -280 -268 Mar 12107 (107) Icelandair Group Iceland 838 16.1 41 4.9 7.1 38 42 Dec 11108 (116) Spicejet India 836 28.5 -110 -13.1 4.7 -126 22 Mar 12109 (109) Air Nostrum Spain 807 15.8 -15 24 Dec 11110 (125) Polar Air Cargo USA 800 43.5 0 0.0 0.0 0 Dec 11 Source: US DOT111 (117) Cebu Pacific Air Philippines 785 21.5 82 10.4 22.2 84 154 Dec 11112 (104) Air Algerie Est* Algeria 775 3.3 Dec 11 Source: Airline Business est113 (98) World Airways USA 773 -6.3 -43 -5.6 2.1 -52 -13 Dec 11 Source: US DOT114 (115) Air Astana Kazakhstan 765 17.3 69 9.0 13.8 59 77 Dec 11115 (121) Oman Air Oman 749 25.7 -252 -33.6 -29.1 -286 -202 Dec 11116 (118) Allegiant Air USA 745 17.2 64 8.6 13.7 64 85 Dec 11 Source: US DOT117 (113) Air Transport Services USA 730 9.4 63 8.6 12.2 23 40 Dec 11118 (99) Mesa Airlines USA 715 -12.0 33 4.6 4.6 -58 -271 June 11 Based on year to June 11119 (108) Iran Air Est* Iran 700 0.0 Mar 12 Source: Airline Business est120 (110) SriLankan Airlines Sri Lanka 700 0.9 -169 -24.2 4.0 -9 Mar 12121 (105) Tunisair Tunisia 696 -5.0 -68 -9.7 -0.7 -83 -3 Dec 11122 (124) Air Arabia UAE 663 16.4 50 7.6 9.6 75 37 Dec 11123 (122) Air Wisconsin USA 660 12.1 16 2.4 8.4 14 35 Dec 11 Source: US DOT124 (140) Interjet Est* Mexico 659 63.2 19.1 60 Dec 11 Source: Airline Business est125 (135) TRIP Linhas Aereas Est* Brazil 650 46.3 -3.2 11 Dec 11 Source: Airline Business est126 (114) Evergreen Int’l Airlines USA 642 -2.2 3 0.4 12.7 -13 61 Dec 11 Source: US DOT127 (120) Middle East Airlines Lebanon 635 5.2 44 6.9 15.0 64 84 Dec 11128 (123) Air Mauritius Mauritius 623 7.8 3.7 -41 13 Mar 12129 (132) Jet2.com UK 621 24.4 37 6.0 3.8 37 25 Mar 11130 (136) Juneyao Airlines China 620 39.8 Dec 11131 (119) Corsairfly Est* France 600 -3.2 -170 Sep 11 Source: Airline Business est132 (129) Spring Airlines Est* China 600 17.7 70 Dec 11 Source: Airline Business est133 (127) Omni Air International USA 583 10.0 20 3.5 13.0 28 71 Dec 11 Source: US DOT134 (126) Luxair Est* Luxembourg 550 1.9 0.4 Dec 11 Source: Airline Business est135 (139) Thai AirAsia Thailand 549 35.5 72 13.1 17.6 66 64 Dec 11136 (134) Air Do Japan 547 21.8 45 8.2 4.7 28 13 Mar 12137 (131) Air Austral Est* Reunion 525 5.0 Mar 12 Source: Airline Business est138 (130) AirBaltic Est* Latvia 525 3.8 Dec 11 Source: Airline Business est139 (153) Centurion Air Cargo USA 502 77.6 -7 -1.4 18.5 -4 53 Dec 11 Source: US DOT140 (133) Tiger Airways Singapore 495 5.4 -67 -13.5 7.6 -84 30 Mar 12141 (143) Bangkok Airways Thailand 466 24.2 57 12.2 12.8 43 25 Dec 11142 (141) Biman Bangladesh Bangladesh 451 12.0 -27 -6 -2.7 -27 -11 Jun 11 Source: Finance ministry143 (142) XL Airways France France 423 8.8 2 -11 Oct 11144 (152) Indonesia AirAsia Indonesia 422 38.8 17 4.0 11.3 7 52 Dec 11145 (146) Blue Panorama Airlines Italy 421 24.7 Oct 11146 (145) Air Caraibes Guadeloupe 414 14.0 -8 -1.8 1.8 -6 9 Dec 11147 (144) Orbest Spain 409 10.7 16 3.8 6.3 12 16 Jul 11148 (138) Tarom Est* Romania 375 -7.5 -105 Dec 11 Source: Airline Business est149 (149) Solaseed Air Japan 371 19.6 8 2.2 4.0 7 9 Mar 12150 (150) Air Pacific Fiji 365 19.0 9 2.6 -0.6 6 14 Mar 12NOTES: Est Airline Business estimates are used where full-year figures are unavailable to give an indication of the airline’s revenue ranking.


ALPHABETICAL LISTING OF THE TOP 150 AIRLINE GROUPS: 2011

Group/Airline Rank Group/Airline Rank Group/Airline Rank Group/Airline Rank

Aegean Airlines 101 Brussels Airlines 80 Jet2 129 Skymark Airlines 95Aer Lingus 68 Cargolux 63 JetBlue Airways 37 SkyWest Airlines 44Aeroflot 32 Cathay Pacific Group 17 Juneyao Airlines 130 Solaseed Air 149Aerolineas Argentinas 87 Cebu Pacific Air 111 Kalitta Air 82 South African Airways 50Aeromexico 56 Centurion Air Cargo 139 Kenya Airways 85 Southwest Airlines 10Air Algerie 112 China Airlines 38 Kingfisher Airlines 89 SpiceJet 108Air Arabia 122 China Eastern Airlines 16 Korean Air 20 Spirit Airlines 90Air Astana 114 China Southern Airlines 14 Kuwait Airways 106 Spring Airlines 132Air Austral 137 Condor 67 LAN Airlines 29 SriLankan Airlines 120Air Berlin 28 Copa Airlines 66 Lion Air 96 SunExpress 102Air Canada 19 Corsairfly 131 LOT Polish Airlines 91 TAM Linhas Aereas 21Air Caraibes 146 CSA Czech Airlines 105 Lufthansa Group 1 TAP Portugal 49Air China 12 Delta Air Lines 3 Luxair 134 Tarom 148Air Do 136 EasyJet 30 Malaysia Airlines 35 Thai AirAsia 135Air Europa 65 Egyptair 77 Meridiana fly 103 Thai Airways International 25Air France-KLM Group 4 El Al 61 Mesa Airlines 118 Thomas Cook Airlines (UK) 76Air India 48 Emirates Group 9 Middle East Airlines 127 Thomson Airways 54Air Mauritius 128 Ethiopian Airlines 75 Monarch Airlines 100 Tiger Airways 140Air New Zealand 46 Etihad Airways 41 Nippon Cargo Airlines 92 Transaero Airlines 55Air Nostrum 109 EVA Air 45 Norwegian 62 TRIP Linhas Aereas 125Air Pacific 150 Evergreen Int’l Airlines 126 Oman Air 115 Tunisair 121Air Transat 59 FedEx Express 5 Omni Air International 133 Turkish Airlines 22Air Transport Services 117 Finnair 58 Orbest 147 United Continental Holdings 2Air Wisconsin 123 Flybe 98 Pakistan International Airlines 81 UPS Airlines 27AirAsia 79 Garuda Indonesia 53 Philippine Airlines 70 US Airways 15Air Baltic 138 GOL Linhas Aereas 36 Pinnacle Airlines 84 UTair Aviation 64Alaska Air Group 40 Gulf Air 96 Polar Air Cargo 110 Vietnam Airlines 60Alitalia 33 Hainan Airlines Group 42 Qantas 13 Virgin America 94Allegiant Air 116 Hawaiian Airlines 72 Qatar Airways Group 23 Virgin Australia 47AMR Corporation 6 Icelandair Group 107 Republic Airways Holdings 57 Virgin Atlantic Group 39ANA Group 8 IndiGo 88 Royal Air Maroc 73 Volga-Dnepr Airlines 69Asiana Airlines 34 Indonesia AirAsia 144 Royal Jordanian Airlines 93 Vueling Airlines 86Atlas Air 83 Interjet 124 Ryanair 26 WestJet Airlines 52AviancaTaca 43 International Airlines Group 7 S7 Airlines 74 Wizz Air 99Azul Airlines 104 Iran Air 119 SAS Group 24 World Airways 113Bangkok Airways 141 Japan Airlines Group 11 Saudia 31 XL Airways France 143Biman Bangladesh 142 Jazz 71 Shandong Airlines 78Blue Panorama Airlines 145 Jet Airways 51 Singapore Airlines Group 18

This first part of the annual World Airline Rankings focuses exclusively on group financial results, with operating statistics for the individual passenger airlines given their own, more detailed ranking. Below is a guide to the elements used in the financial ranking.

REVENUERevenues are consolidated figures for groups as a whole, including contributions from subsidiaries and non-airline operations. However, for broad freight or travel operations, where only a fraction of the group is involved in air transport (eg UPS, FedEx Express), results have been given for the airline division only.All revenues are translated into US$ at the average annual rate for the given financial year.

PERCENTAGE CHANGE IN REVENUESThe first set of percentage change figures for the Top 150 are given in local currency to avoid distortions from fluctuating exchange rates. The second set of figures gives the change in US$ converted at their average rate for the year in question.

OPERATING AND NET RESULTThe operating result is taken as the profit or loss from operations after normal expenses including depreciation, but before finance charges, exceptional items and tax. However, not all groups give sufficient details of their accounts to ensure that this definition is followed in all cases and US GAAP attributes operational elements of special charges to operating costs. The net result is after all costs and exceptional items and contributions from subsidiaries. In some cases these may include sizeable gains or losses from exceptional items, such as the windfalls from the sale of stakes in the global distribution systems.

OPERATING AND NET MARGINSThe margins show profits or losses as a percentage of revenues allowing comparisons between the performance of different groups. However, differences in national accounting standards mean that direct comparisons should be handled with caution.

MAINLINE REVENUES BY DIVISIONThe divisional revenue splits generally relate to the parent mainline carrier within the group (eg American Airlines within AMR), and can be read alongside the passenger rankings. However, where a group is highly segmented, the figures correspond to the separate divisions (eg Lufthansa Cargo, Technik).

PERIODResults are over the latest financial year to the end of the month shown. Returns from mid-year onwards have been included where there are no later figures.

SOURCES AND ESTIMATESMost results have been taken from reports submitted or published by the airline groups. Other sources include returns to regulatory bodies, such as ICAO, the US DoT or other national civil aviation bodies, press statements and other published reports. Estimates based on analysis of historical traffic, financial and fleet data, and regional trends have been made for carriers where no figures are available.

TOP 150 FINANCIAL RANKINGS: NOTES AND DEFINITIONS

WORLD AIRLINE RANKINGS OVERVIEW


TOP 150 AIRLINE GROUPSANALYSIS BY FLIGHTGLOBAL INSIGHT

TOP 10 HIGHEST GROUP NET PROFITS 2011

Rank Airline Group Net profits $m Top 1502011 2010 Rank

1 Japan Airlines Group 2,366 N/A 112 Air China 1,095 1,825 123 China Southern Airlines Group 944 949 144 Delta Air Lines 854 593 35 United Continental Holdings 840 955 26 International Airlines Group 776 132 77 Ryanair 774 496 268 Cathay Pacific Group 729 1,832 179 China Eastern Airlines 689 779 1610 Aeroflot Russian Airlines 526 278 32

TOP 10 WORST GROUP NET LOSSES 2011

Rank Airline Group Net profits $m Top 1502011 2010 Rank

1 AMR Corporation -1,979 -471 62 Air France-KLM Group -1,131 812 43 Malaysia Airlines -825 74 354 Kingfisher Airlines -484 -226 895 GOL Linhas Aereas -401 122 366 Air Berlin -380 -140 287 Thai Airways International -333 467 258 Pakistan International Airlines -309 -244 819 Oman Air -286 -202 11510 Kuwait Airways -280 -268 106

TOP 10 HIGHEST GROUP OPERATING MARGINS 2011

Rank Airline Group Operating margin Top 1502011 2010 Rank

1 AirAsia 26.8 27.0 792 Skymark Airlines 23.2 24.1 953 Copa Airlines 21.0 18.6 664 Japan Airlines Group 17.0 13.8 115 Ryanair 15.6 13.5 266 Spirit Airlines 13.5 8.8 907 Thai AirAsia 13.1 17.6 1358 Bangkok Airways 12.2 12.8 1419 Hainan Airlines Group 12.1 12.9 4210 Atlas Air 11.4 18.9 83

TOP 10 WORST GROUP OPERATING MARGINS 2011

Rank Airline Group Operating margin Top 1502011 2010 Rank

1 Oman Air -33.6 -29.1 1152 Kuwait Airways -33.1 -34.5 1063 SriLankan Airlines -24.2 4.0 1204 Kingfisher Airlines -20.9 -1.6 895 Malaysia Airlines -16.5 1.3 356 Meridianafly -16.0 -6.4 1037 Pakistan International Airlines -15.4 0.7 818 Tiger Airways -13.5 7.6 1409 SpiceJet -13.1 4.7 10810 Czech Airlines -12.2 -0.7 105

TOP 10 HIGHEST GROUP OPERATING PROFITS 2011

Rank Airline Group Operating profits $m Top 1502011 2010 Rank

1 Japan Airlines Group 2,598 2,216 112 Delta Air Lines 1,975 2,217 33 United Continental Holdings 1,822 1,919 24 FedEx 1,260 1,228 55 ANA Group 1,230 797 86 Lufthansa Group 1,146 1,346 17 Air China 971 1,617 128 Ryanair 944 647 269 Cathay Pacific Group 707 1,813 1710 Southwest Airlines 693 988 10

TOP 10 WORST GROUP OPERATING LOSSES 2011

Rank Airline Group Operating profits $m Top 1502011 2010 Rank

1 AMR -1,054 308 62 Malaysia Airlines -751 55 353 Air France-KLM Group -493 162 44 Air Berlin -346 -22 285 Kuwait Airways -280 -271 1066 Oman Air -252 -174 1157 Kingfisher Airlines -249 -22 898 Pakistan International Airlines -207 8 819 SriLankan Airlines -169 28 12010 Meridianafly -145 -54 103

NOTES: Figures based on profit and loss data from the Top 150 ranking of airline groups.

Operating profit line: top 150 airlines

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SOURCE: Airline Business World Airline Rankings

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Revenue growth: top 150 airlines

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SOURCE: Airline Business World Airline Rankings

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WORLD AIRLINE RANKINGS PASSENGER

Airlines hold up the trafficGRAHAM DUNN LONDON

This year’s Airline Business World Airline Rankings show passenger RPKs grew 7% in 2011 among the top 200 carriers, in line with the extra capacity added into the market during the year. As as a result, load factors remain high at 79.4%

Despite mounting challenges facing the air transport industry, passenger traf-fic grew steadily in 2011. Figures for

the 200 biggest airlines by RPKs shows pas-senger traffic grew 7.2% in 2011.

As airlines collectively added 7.2% capac-ity in 2011, this meant that passenger load factors remained unchanged at 79.4%. This keeps industry average load factors at histori-cally high levels, after jumping nearly two points in 2010, and up five points since 2006.

The top 200 operators carried just short of 2.7 billion passengers in 2011, a rise of 6.5% on the previous year. Network airlines con-tributed more than 1.7 billion of these pas-sengers, while the fast growing low-cost seg-ment carried 675 million passengers in 2011. The remaining 281 million passengers were handled by regional and leisure carriers.

Passenger figures for North American oper-ators in 2011 underline the tight capacity dis-cipline seen in that market, which has been

TOP 200 AIRLINE OPERATIONS: HISTORIC TREND

Measure Units Latest year Annual change for previous rankings

2011 Change 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006

Passenger traffic RPK million 5,195,832 7.2% 8.3% -0.4% 2.9% 7.4% 5.8%Seat capacity ASK million 6,546,468 7.2% 5.5% -2.2% 3.6% 5.7% 4.2%Load factor percentage 79.4% 0.0 2.1 1.4 -0.5 1.1 1.2 Passengers million 2,698 6.5% 5.7% 0.0% 1.1% 6.9% 6.0%NOTE: Based on the Top 200 ranking as it appeared each year. Airlines included in the ranking may change between years. RPK=revenue passenger kilometre ASK=available seat kilometre 1mile=1.61km

TOP 200 PASSENGER AIRLINE STATISTICS BY REGION: 2011

Region Passenger traffic (RPK) Load factors Passenger numbers Employees Nominal yields USD Share of Top 200 rank by:Million Change Percent Change Million Change Number Change c/RPK Change RPK Carriers

Africa 99,195 0.4% 73.8% -0.6 41 -2.5% 50,357 13.6 2.90 -44.7% 1.9% 10Asia-Pacific 1,499,946 8.2% 78.0% 0.2 799 7.5% 442,991 9.2 7.38 0.3% 28.9% 60Europe 1,492,375 9.6% 80.2% -0.3 744 8.9% 347,922 -2.0 4.26 0.5% 28.7% 68Middle East 384,586 10.4% 76.8% 0.5 120 8.9% 76,662 13.9 5.32 -16.4% 7.4% 14North America 1,498,450 2.7% 81.8% 0.0 836 1.7% 426,111 2.0 7.59 29.8% 28.8% 36Latin America 221,279 15.1% 75.0% 1.4 158 19.2% 108,878 24.7 8.13 -7.5% 4.3% 12TOTAL 5,195,832 7.2% 79.4% 0.0 2,698 6.5% 1,454,921 5.5 6.34 6.2% 100.0% 200NOTE: Based on returns to the latest Top 200 ranking. Nominal yields=calculated in US dollar terms with no adjustment for exchange rate fluctuations.

TOP 200 PASSENGER AIRLINE STATISTICS BY AIRLINE TYPE: 2011

Airline type Pax traffic (RPK) Load Factors Passenger numbers Employees Nominal yields USD Share of Top 200 rank by:Million Change Percent Change Million Change Number Change c/RPK Change RPK Carriers

Leisure – Airline 167,409 7.6% 92.2% 0.0 58 5.6% 10,343 -29.7 1.70 2.0 3.2% 16Low cost – Airline 879,641 11.8% 81.9% 0.7 675 11.1% 153,679 11.4 4.19 13.1 16.9% 45Mainline – Airline 3,967,087 6.3% 78.5% -0.1 1,743 5.4% 1,233,949 6.2 6.98 6.1 76.4% 110Regional – Airline 181,695 4.8% 76.1% 0.4 223 2.6% 54,950 -12.6 7.07 0.5 3.5% 29TOTAL 5,195,832 7.2% 79.4% 0.0 2,698 6.5% 1,454,921 5.5 6.34 6.2 100.0% 200NOTE: Based on returns to the latest Top 200 ranking. Nominal yields=calculated in US dollar terms with no adjustment for exchange rate fluctuations.

TRAFFIC: AIRLINE GROUP SNAPSHOT

Airline RPK (m) Pax (m)

Delta Air Lines 310,228 163.8United-Continental 292,520 96.4Air France-KLM 217,170 75.8Lufthansa Group 200,376 100.6IAG 168,617 51.7China Southern 122,342 80.7China Eastern 100,744 68.7Cathay Pacific 101,535 27.6

supported by recent consolidation, and has helped drive the sector’s recently improved profitability. North American passenger traf-fic grew 2.7% last year, in line with addi-tional capacity, to deliver industry leading load factors of 81.8%.

This contrasts with larger passenger traffic increases seen in other regions in 2011. Mid-dle East and Latin American carriers con-

tinue their rapid growth, enjoying double-digit growth of 10.4% and 15.1% respectively. European and Asia-Pacific car-riers also grew strongly. Traffic rose 8.2% among Asia-Pacific carriers and 9.6% for European operators.

The challenge facing airlines this year is to keep load factors high as pressures on demand intensify, particularly in Europe, while additional aircraft join the global fleet.

May traffic figures released by IATA point to some of the challenges ahead, as the airline body reports a general downward trend in line with deteriorating global economic con-ditions. While passenger demand was 4.5% up on May 2011, growth was virtually flat compared to April.

IATA also says international premium traf-fic grew only 1.7% in May compared with a year earlier, on the back of a continuing decline in business confidence in Europe. Passenger traffic in Europe and over the North Atlantic declined by 4.6% and 3.8%, respectively, year-on-year. These key markets together represent 40% of international pre-mium traffic and 34% of international pre-mium revenues

“Business and consumer confidence are falling,” says IATA director general Tony Tyler. “And we are seeing the first signs of that in slowing demand and softer load fac-tors. This does not bode well for industry profitability.”



ANALYSIS BY FLIGHTGLOBAL INSIGHT DATA COMPILED BY SILVA ISHAK FLIGHTGLOBAL DATA RESEARCH

TOP 200 PASSENGER OPERATIONSTOP PASSENGER OPERATIONS RANKED BY TRAFFIC 2011: 1 TO 50

Ranking Airline operation Country Passenger traffic (RPK) Seat capacity (ASK) Load factor Passenger number2011 (2010) Million Change Million Change Percent Change Million Change

1 (1) Delta Air Lines USA 310,228 -0.2% 377,642 0.8% 82.1% -0.9 163.8 0.8%2 (2) American Airlines USA 203,621 0.8% 248,423 0.7% 82.0% 0.1 86.2 -0.1%3 (4) Southwest Airlines USA 167,154 6.4% 206,830 4.9% 80.8% 1.1 135.3 3.3%4 (5) Emirates UAE 160,446 9.8% 200,687 9.8% 79.9% -0.1 34.0 8.1%5 (3) United Airlines USA 160,390 -2.8% 191,518 -2.4% 83.7% -0.4 50.5 -6.6%6 (6) Lufthansa Germany 141,055 8.8% 182,609 11.8% 77.2% -2.2 65.5 11.1%7 (8) Air France France 133,036 6.3% 165,555 6.4% 80.4% -0.1 50.0 6.4%8 (7) Continental Airlines USA 132,204 3.0% 161,706 5.7% 81.8% -2.2 45.3 3.9%9 (9) British Airways UK 117,348 10.6% 150,152 9.8% 78.2% 0.6 33.0 8.0%10 (10) Qantas Australia 106,759 6.0% 133,281 6.9% 80.1% -0.7 44.5 7.3%11 (12) China Southern Airlines China 101,637 9.1% 124,754 6.4% 81.5% 2.0 63.7 4.0%12 (13) China Eastern Airlines China 100,744 8.3% 127,700 7.1% 78.9% 0.9 68.7 5.9%13 (11) US Airways USA 97,815 3.1% 116,843 1.4% 83.7% 1.3 53.0 2.1%14 (17) Ryanair Ireland 93,875 14.6% 114,026 15.2% 82.1% -0.6 76.4 7.3%15 (14) Air China China 93,185 8.1% 113,987 6.1% 81.8% 1.5 48.7 5.3%16 (19) Cathay Pacific Hong Kong 90,345 19.3% 111,169 13.7% 81.3% 3.8 19.5 19.0%17 (15) Singapore Airlines Singapore 87,824 3.6% 113,410 5.0% 77.4% -1.0 17.2 3.1%18 (16) Air Canada Canada 87,280 4.5% 106,957 4.7% 81.6% -0.1 30.9 3.3%19 (18) KLM Netherlands 82,047 7.9% 97,198 7.0% 84.4% 0.7 25.1 10.0%20 (20) Korean Air South Korea 64,857 7.1% 84,285 6.1% 76.9% 0.7 23.3 1.6%21 (25) Qatar Airways Qatar 64,762 17.5% 87,501 16.7% 74.0% 0.5 15.4 19.4%22 (23) EasyJet UK 61,347 9.3% 69,318 10.1% 88.5% -0.7 54.5 11.7%23 (22) All Nippon Airways Japan 59,940 2.6% 91,162 5.3% 65.8% -1.7 44.9 -1.8%24 (28) Turkish Airlines Turkey 58,876 22.8% 81,120 24.6% 72.6% -1.1 32.6 12.1%25 (27) TAM Linhas Aereas Brazil 56,718 12.1% 77,226 9.9% 73.4% 1.4 36.9 9.5%26 (24) Thai Airways International Thailand 55,267 -0.7% 78,533 3.9% 70.4% -3.3 18.4 1.3%27 (29) Air Berlin Germany 52,140 11.0% 62,160 1.8% 83.9% 6.9 35.3 1.2%28 (26) Iberia Spain 51,268 0.1% 63,042 1.2% 81.3% -0.9 29 (30) JetBlue Airways USA 49,403 8.6% 59,920 7.2% 82.4% 1.1 26.4 8.7%30 (21) Japan Airlines Japan 48,217 -19.3% 71,202 -17.9% 67.7% -1.2 25.4 -26.9%31 (33) Aeroflot Russia 42,021 20.8% 54,228 20.5% 77.5% 0.2 14.2 25.6%32 (32) Malaysia Airlines Malaysia 39,731 5.0% 52,998 6.8% 75.0% -1.3 13.3 1.4%33 (34) Etihad Airways UAE 38,700 15.9% 51,000 13.0% 75.9% 1.9 8.3 18.3%34 (35) LAN Airlines Chile 38,423 15.9% 48,140 13.7% 79.8% 1.6 22.6 30.6%35 (31) Virgin Atlantic Airways UK 38,038 -0.3% 49,029 6.0% 77.6% -5.0 5.3 -0.2%36 (37) Alaska Airlines USA 36,364 11.0% 42,692 8.5% 85.2% 1.9 17.8 7.8%37 (40) Saudia Saudi Arabia 34,721 12.9% 48,572 8.4% 71.5% 2.9 20.1 10.5%38 (36) Alitalia Italy 34,544 5.0% 48,429 3.7% 71.3% 0.8 24.6 5.5%39 (41) GOL Transport Aereas Brazil 33,266 8.7% 48,469 6.5% 68.6% -0.3 36.2 10.0%40 (47) Transaero Airlines Russia 33,180 26.2% 40,024 27.4% 82.9% -0.8 8.5 27.2%41 (38) Thomson Airways UK 32,969 0.8% 36,910 1.5% 89.3% -0.6 11.0 0.8%42 (39) China Airlines Taiwan 31,798 -1.4% 40,773 2.4% 78.0% -3.0 11.0 -2.8%43 (42) Swiss International Air Lines Switzerland 31,606 7.1% 38,627 7.7% 81.8% -0.5 15.3 8.1%44 (44) Jet Airways India 30,643 13.6% 38,643 12.6% 79.3% 0.7 17.3 18.0%45 (45) Virgin Australia Australia 29,569 9.9% 37,091 9.1% 79.7% 0.6 18.6 -0.1%46 (46) Asiana Airlines South Korea 28,521 6.8% 37,501 8.0% 76.1% -0.8 14.7 5.5%47 (43) Thomas Cook Airlines (UK) UK 27,418 0.1% 29,383 -0.1% 93.3% 0.2 8.0 -1.8%48 (49) WestJet Airlines Canada 27,183 8.2% 34,096 8.5% 79.7% -0.2 16.0 5.7%49 (49) Air New Zealand New Zealand 26,996 4.5% 32,353 2.5% 83.4% 1.6 13.1 6.3%50 (53) Shenzhen Airlines China 26,406 12.5% 32,256 12.5% 81.9% 0.0 18.3 10.6%NOTES: Est* Airline Business RPK estimate based on full year passenger data.


Nominal yield Employees Cargo traffic (RTK) FleetUS¢/RPK Change (local) Number Change Million Change size Notes

9.75 11.2% 78,392 -1.6% 3,461 4.4% 7098.81 6.2% 66,522 1.6% 2,617 -5.3% 610 Source: US DOT

45,392 30.1% 165 701 Inc: AirTran after acquisition8.31 7.6% 33,634 11.2 8,192 1.2% 1749.01 46,491 0.9% 2,505 -9.8% 703

55,361 -3.1% 7,966 2.9% 291 Inc: Lufthansa mainline and regional 58,065 4.3% 4,842 -1.0% 254 Source: ICAO

9.29 13.8% 36,797 -2.6% 1,359 -12.1%11.96 10.4% 40,252 11.3% 4,793 4.4% 23411.24 17.4% 32,629 0.4% 2,301 -6.0% 14312.43 14.0% 70,000 7.6% 3,303 14.1% 361 Source: ICAO10.53 12.4% 57,096 4,415 2.5% 248 Inc: regional operation Wuhan

31,551 2.2% 554 -2.4% 3395.16 12.7% 8,500 5.3% 294 Source: ICAO

13.90 18.8% 24,474 0.1% 4,415 -2.5% 2719.64 -4.4% 29,000 5.5% 9,254 33.9% 133 Source: ICAO

13,893 2.2% 7,198 0.3% 10011.86 8.7% 23,700 2.2% 1,509 -2.4% 200

29,913 -5.9% 3,814 0.3% 112 Source: ICAO9.79 33.9% 15,623 -10.2% 9,118 -5.7% 147

16,025 22.0% 3,875 17.8% 1087.17 7.5% 7,724 12.2% 185

20.55 9.4% 12,768 -0.6% 2,703 7.3% 18710.33 1.5% 15,737 10.8% 1,465 38.6% 15511.27 7.7% 29,768 5.6% 212 21.6% 1579.16 11.4% 25,848 -0.1% 2,766 -4.5% 86

10.34 4.2% 9,113 2.4% 118 Inc: Niki9.80 5.4% 21,258 5.7% 1,363 3.7% 1028.40 11,749 4.8% 35 -12.4% 172

21.13 32,000 1,770 -28.3% 1249.98 2.0% 15,000 -25.0% 909 -4.6% 120 Source: Rosaviatsiya8.54 10.5% 20,000 0.0% 2,068 -15.6% 1057.65 6.9% 9,038 15.1% 2,300 3.9% 65

10.43 11.2% 21,838 15.1% 3,612 11.5% 78 9,000 9.3% 1,529 -0.4% 38 Source: AEA

10.20 2.3% 11,840 1.2% 91 1.2% 119 1,409 4.8% 134 Source: AACO (scheduled)

14,032 434 1.5% 135 Source: AEA (scheduled)12.09 3.5% 20,525 9.3% 122 0.8% 99

294 25.4% 76 Source: Rosaviatsiya 51 -27.3% 55 Source: UK CAA

10,520 0.3% 5,670 -15.0% 6915.06 13.9% 7,156 2.6% 1,344 1.7% 67

13,945 16.9% 837 6.6% 869.96 12.2% 7,000 86

9,041 5.4% 3,923 9.1% 71 RPK/ASKs for international only 48 17.9% 33 Source: UK CAA

10.41 10.8% 7,141 3.8% 11 24.4% 989.97 10.9% 10,861 3.4% 893 6.1% 499.30 9.0% 392 8.4% 108 Source: ICAO


TOP PASSENGER OPERATIONS RANKED BY TRAFFIC 2011: 51 TO 100

Ranking Airline operation Country Passenger traffic (RPK) Seat capacity (ASK) Load factor Passenger number2011 (2010) Million Change Million Change Percent Change Million Change

51 (50) TAP Portugal Portugal 25,945 9.7% 34,009 6.7% 76.3% 2.1 9.8 8.8%52 (60) Lion Air Est* Indonesia 25,500 25.5% 28,500 25.8% 89.5% -0.3 25.9 26.3%53 (52) Scandinavian Airlines Sweden 24,839 5.7% 33,306 6.6% 74.6% -0.6 22.9 6.4%54 (56) Hainan Airlines China 24,330 15.4% 29,292 12.4% 83.1% 2.1 13.6 18.7%55 (51) EVA Air Taiwan 24,033 1.7% 30,809 4.0% 78.0% -1.7 6.7 3.5%56 (62) Condor Germany 23,574 18.5% 26,316 17.8% 89.6% 0.6 6.2 7.7%57 (58) Jetstar Australia 23,304 13.7% 29,884 15.2% 78.0% -1.0 13.8 12.8%58 (69) Garuda Indonesia Indonesia 23,081 32.0% 30,696 25.9% 75.2% 3.5 15.4 35.6%59 (66) Vietnam Airlines Est Vietnam 23,000 20.5% 29,750 20.3% 77.3% 0.2 14.5 19.4%60 (54) SkyWest Airlines USA 21,923 2.7% 27,470 1.9% 79.8% 0.6 23.7 -2.3%61 (70) Aeromexico Mexico 21,783 24.9% 28,252 22.2% 77.1% 1.6 13.9 23.1%62 (55) South African Airways South Africa 21,509 1.5% 30,227 -1.2% 71.2% 1.9 6.5 -2.2%63 (65) Finnair Finland 21,498 11.8% 29,345 16.8% 73.3% -3.3 8.0 12.2%64 (57) AirAsia Malaysia 21,307 3.4% 26,074 7.0% 81.7% -2.9 18.0 12.0%65 (61) Frontier Airlines USA 20,759 2.6% 24,199 -1.1% 85.8% 3.1 14.9 2.3%66 (64) Air India India 20,304 3.7% 30,351 0.5% 66.9% 2.0 4.3 10.9%67 (75) Sichuan Airlines China 19,346 25.1% 22,484 20.6% 86.0% 3.2 12.9 21.4%68 (73) Xiamen Airlines China 18,897 16.5% 24,053 14.3% 78.6% 1.6 15.3 13.0%69 (63) Philippine Airlines Philippines 18,637 -5.9% 25,552 -1.2% 72.9% -3.7 8.2 -10.2%70 (67) El Al Israel 18,040 -2.1% 22,489 -0.6% 80.2% -0.1 4.2 0.3%71 (68) Austrian Austria 17,792 1.7% 24,124 5.9% 73.8% -3.1 11.3 3.4%72 (71) Air Europa Spain 17,713 3.1% 22,296 3.2% 79.4% -0.0 8.7 -2.0%

73 (80) Norwegian Norway 17,421 26.5% 21,958 23.3% 79.3% 2.0 15.7 20.5%

74 (82) Air Transat Canada 16,626 25.2% 18,181 24.8% 91.4% 0.3 3.6 24.3%75 (81) Copa Airlines Panama 16,409 21.1% 21,485 21.9% 76.4% -0.5 6.7 7.6%76 (78) Hawaiian Airlines USA 16,341 17.0% 19,381 18.6% 84.3% -1.2 8.7 2.9%77 (72) Shanghai Airlines China 16,007 -2.6% 20,917 -3.7% 76.5% 0.8 11.7 -2.1%78 (74) Pakistan Int’l Airlines Pakistan 15,736 0.5% 21,902 3.2% 71.9% -1.9 5.8 4.3%79 (59) Egyptair Egypt 15,496 -24.0% 24,375 -13.4% 63.6% -8.8 7.4 -22.1%80 (77) ExpressJet (1st)* USA 14,881 -1.6% 19,113 -0.3% 77.9% -1.0 16.2 -1.5%81 (83) American Eagle Airlines USA 14,661 14.0% 19,707 13.3% 74.4% 0.5 17.3 6.8%82 (76) Monarch Airlines UK 14,277 -5.6% 16,972 -4.4% 84.1% -1.1 5.9 -2.4%83 (86) Wizz Air Est* Hungary 14,250 16.1% 16,964 16.1% 84.0% 0.0 11.2 16.7%84 (79) Aer Lingus Ireland 14,051 1.1% 18,593 1.8% 75.6% -0.5 9.5 1.8%85 (84) Avianca Colombia 14,022 9.9% 17,912 10.0% 78.3% -0.1 12.0 19.0%86 (94) Pegasus Airlines Est* Turkey 14,000 31.3% 19,000 31.1% 73.7% 0.1 11.3 31.4%87 (89) Pinnacle Airlines USA 13,959 24.9% 18,652 22.8% 74.8% 0.1 20.0 22.0%88 (102) IndiGo India 13,675 42.6% 16,434 43.7% 83.2% -0.6 12.0 41.7%89 (85) Kingfisher Airlines India 13,362 7.5% 16,933 7.7% 78.9% -0.1 12.2 3.4%90 (87) Royal Air Maroc Morocco 13,250 8.0% 19,641 6.9% 67.5% 0.7 6.1 4.3%91 (90) Ethiopian Airlines Ethiopia 13,151 19.5% 18,607 22.9% 70.7% -2.1 3.7 18.0%92 (98) Virgin America USA 12,917 28.7% 15,861 28.8% 81.4% -0.1 5.0 28.7%93 (93) Spirit Airlines USA 12,889 20.8% 15,056 15.8% 85.6% 3.6 8.3 22.9%94 (105) Shandong Airlines China 11,810 27.3% 14,478 26.1% 81.6% 0.8 9.7 22.8%95 (91) SunExpress Est* Turkey 11,750 8.4% 14,724 9.9% 79.8% -1.1 7.2 8.6%96 (92) TUIfly Germany 11,400 6.5% 12,569 6.8% 90.7% -0.3 4.7 7.6%97 (103) SriLankan Airlines Sri Lanka 11,270 17.6% 14,249 14.2% 79.1% 2.3 3.5 20.6%98 (88) Gulf Air Bahrain 11,153 -5.9% 15,267 -4.8% 73.1% -0.9 5.0 -6.6%99 (115) UTair Aviation Russia 11,119 39.3% 15,211 46.7% 73.1% -3.9 5.8 31.3%100 (100) Vueling Airlines Spain 10,820 8.9% 14,314 5.5% 75.6% 2.4 12.3 11.6%NOTES: Est Airline Business estimates used where traffic figures not available; Est* Airline Business RPK estimate based on full year passenger data; *ExpressJet data prior to merger with Atlantic Southeast


Nominal yield Employees Cargo traffic (RTK) FleetUS¢/RPK Change (local) Number Change Million Change size Notes

6,500 -6.9% 352 -1.5% 55 Source: AEA 10,000 73 Airline Business estimate based on pax figure

16.39 7.2% 13,479 -1.8% 493 -10.4% 142 11,669 6.4% 572 10.5% 91 Source: ICAO 5,807 13.4% 4,883 -5.5% 56

24 Source: ICAO63

11.68 10.8% 442 5.7% 8773 Airline Business estimate

16.35 28.3 9,426 4.0% 31811.82 3.6% 9,000 224 53

10,057 1,060 0.4% 5110.41 3,394 1.4% 898 19.9% 594.73 10.4% 5,137 9.3% 56

4,286 -0.5% 6 -16.0% 59 507 -7.6% 97 Source: DGAC 266 1.8% 63 Source: ICAO 233 10.2% 78 305 -15.1% 36 Source: ICAO

10.14 5.9% 3,836 0.6% 547 0.8% 37 6,777 -2.4% 383 3.9% 42 Inc: Austrian, Tyrolean and Lauda

10.19 13.0% 2,824 2.2% 36

9.38 8.6% 64

2,908 15.6% 98 22 7,527 8.1% 46 62

9.43 14.1 4,265 12.2% 141 15.0% 41 176 -22.7% 62 Source: ICAO

7.59 4.6% 18,014 -0.0% 288 -12.4% 36 31,725 8.3% 337 -19.8% 65

6.09 17.2% 5,414 -26.0% Source: US DOT14.67 -3.1% 9,849 6.2% 245

2,070 7.6% 9 -2.9% 32 Source: UK CAA 1,500 0.0% 35 Airline Business estimate based on pax figure

10.62 11.7% 3,491 -0.7% 129 -9.8% 45 8,664 21.0% 152 -15.6% 64 Source: ICAO

38 Airline Business estimate based on pax figure869 -3.4 3,077 -6.2% 198

80 4.7% 56 Source: DGCA 154 140.7% 29 Source: ICAO

45 Calculation based 4 quarters to Sep 118.85 -1.1% 763 30.7% 467.36 12.8% 2,115 19.5% 515.35 6.1% 2,501 6.4% 40

139 22.8% 57 Source: ICAO 1,465 22 Airline Business estimate based on pax figure

5 10.9% 23 Source: ICAO 345 3.6% 20 306 -19.4% 37 Source: AACO 43 35.0% 106 Source: ICAO

9.90 5.9% 55





Ranking Airline Country Passenger traffic (RPK) Capacity Load factor Passenger number Fleet2011 (2010) Million Change (ASK) change Percent Change Million Change size

101 (96) Aerolineas Argentinas Est Argentina 10,750 3.7% 3.7% 72.9% -0.0 4.0 4.2% 30102 (95) Transavia Airlines Netherlands 10,738 0.9% -1.5% 81.7% 3.3 5.4 5.9% 29103 (97) S7 Airlines Russia 10,543 2.6% 3.8% 75.6% -0.9 5.2 8.0% 36104 (110) Cebu Pacific Air Philippines 10,531 18.9% 19.2% 85.1% -0.2 11.9 13.6% 40105 (114) Spring Airlines China 10,214 26.0% 26.5% 94.4% -0.4 7.1 21.6% 31106 (109) Kenya Airways Kenya 9,943 11.8% 7.9% 71.7% 2.5 3.6 16.2% 34107 (117) SpiceJet India 9,816 24.7% 29.0% 78.5% -2.8 9.0 33.6% 40108 (104) ExpressJet Airlines * USA 9,803 5.5% 5.7% 79.7% -0.2 14.2 2.1% 402109 (99) Corsairfly France 9,785 -2.0% 1.3 -3.9% 6110 (126) Volaris Mexico 9,651 42.0% 28.3% 75.6% 7.3 5.6 34.3% 35111 (107) Air Arabia UAE 9,600 4.8% 6.0% 82.1% -0.9 4.7 5.4% 23112 (106) Dragonair Hong Kong 9,531 3.8% 9.2% 72.8% -3.8 7.3 3.2% 34113 (108) Iran Air Iran 9,136 1.6% -3.0% 77.5% 3.5 7.5 -8.7% 44114 (101) Republic Airlines USA 9,120 -7.0% -5.9% 77.1% -0.9 10.5 -5.3% 82115 (111) Allegiant Air USA 9,079 3.2% 1.9% 88.6% 1.1 6.2 4.6% 57116 (123) Spanair ** Spain 8,902 25.9% 26.9% 74.8% -0.6 8.6 23.2% -117 (113) Onur Air Est Turkey 8,500 3.7% 5.0% 81.0% -1.1 5.2 4.0% 18118 (112) Tiger Airways Singapore 8,494 3.5% 9.0% 82.0% -4.0 5.5 -8.4% 21119 (121) Brussels Airlines Belgium 8,487 16.1% 10.0% 66.5% 3.5 5.7 16.4% 49120 (125) Oman Air Oman 8,457 21.5% 20.7% 73.0% 1.0 3.8 16.3% 26121 (116) Royal Jordanian Airlines Jordan 8,400 6.4% 7.8% 69.8% -0.9 3.2 5.8% 32122 (118) China Xinhua Airlines China 8,129 6.3% 3.0% 86.7% 2.7 4.8 -1.2% 9123 (131) Jet2.com UK 8,048 29.4% 27.9% 87.3% 1.0 4.2 26.9% 39124 (122) Orenair Russia 7,500 4.8% 6.9% 95.0% -1.9 2.5 4.4% 22125 (120) Kuwait Airways Kuwait 7,429 -1.2% -1.3% 74.0% 0.4 2.5 -1.6% 21126 (134) Thai AirAsia Thailand 7,389 24.8% 21.0% 80.1% 2.0 6.9 20.3% 25127 (143) Nordwind Airlines Russia 7,281 43.2% 49.1% 87.4% -3.6 1.7 44.3% 14128 (119) LOT Polish Airlines Poland 7,244 -4.1% -3.2% 74.4% -0.7 4.6 2.9% 34129 (130) Rossiya Airlines Russia 7,191 15.2% 15.2% 75.3% 3.5 15.1% 42130 (158) Azul Airlines Brazil 7,037 65.6% 61.6% 81.1% 1.9 7.3 100.7% 54131 (157) Capital Airlines China 7,000 63.4% 64.6% 87.5% -0.6 4.8 58.4% 39132 (133) Mahan Air Iran 6,845 15.5% 14.0% 76.0% 1.0 4.9 28.0% 30133 (149) Ural Airlines Russia 6,833 41.2% 37.5% 70.1% 1.8 2.5 40.2% 24134 (124) Germanwings Germany 6,793 -2.5% -3.8% 78.2% 1.0 7.5 -2.7% 32135 (139) Indonesia AirAsia Indonesia 6,664 28.4% 28.6% 77.1% 0.1 5.0 27.7% 18136 (129) Air Mauritius Mauritius 6,610 4.3% 7.1% 76.5% -2.1 1.3 4.3% 12137 (141) Juneyao Airlines China 6,592 27.5% 26.7% 86.9% 0.5 4.3 20.9% 25138 (153) Skymark Airlines Est* Japan 6,500 45.5% 56.4% 76.2% -5.7 6.3 43.7% 26139 (171) AeroSvit Airlines Ukraine 6,382 62.9% 58.0% 71.9% 2.2 2.8 65.5% 25140 (127) Mesa Airlines USA 6,234 -4.9% -6.5% 80.5% 1.4 8.4 -7.6% 69141 (135) Uzbekistan Airways Uzbekistan 6,222 7.9% 5.5% 70.8% 1.6 2.3 7.1% 38142 (140) Air Austral Reunion 5,940 14.5% 1.2 8.6% 11143 (144) Air Astana Kazakhstan 5,828 14.7% 14.1% 68.5% 0.3 3.0 16.3% 25144 (148) Aegean Airlines Greece 5,809 19.9% 16.7% 68.9% 1.8 5.8 2.3% 31145 (132) Air India Express India 5,788 -4.9% -1.2% 69.7% -2.8 2.4 -0.3% 21146 (154) Travel Service Airlines Czech Republic 5,754 29.1% 26.0% 84.8% 2.1 2.8 19.9% 7147 (137) British Midland Int'l UK 5,361 -1.5% 4.6% 62.6% -3.9 3.1 -9.9% 23148 (146) Biman Bangladesh Est* Bangladesh 5,250 4.4% 5.4% 72.4% -0.7 1.5 5.0% 14149 (136) Mesaba Airlines USA 5,169 -9.7% -9.9% 77.4% 0.2 5.7 -7.9% 5150 (128) CSA Czech Airlines Czech Republic 5,076 -20.1% -17.8% 69.4% -1.3 4.3 -14.6% 31NOTES: Est Airline Business estimates used where traffic figures not available. Est* Airline Business RPK estimate based on full year passenger data; * ExpressJet Airlines figures cover Atlantic Southeast prior to merger with ExpressJet; ** Spanair ceased operations January 2012;


Ranking Airline Country Pax Traffic (RPK) Pax number Fleet2011 (2010) Million Change Million Change size

151 (151) XL Airways France France 4,990 5.4% 1.1 -9.3% 8152 (142) Shuttle America USA 4,971 -3.8% 4.9 -1.7% 66153 (147) Royal Brunei Airlines Brunei 4,967 2.4% 1.3 -3.0% 10154 (138) Tunisair Tunisia 4,921 -8.9% 3.2 -13.9% 32155 (164) Icelandair Iceland 4,893 19.6% 1.7 17.6% 15156 (152) Air Caraibes Guadeloupe 4,837 3.7% 1.2 6.2% 9157 (159) Lufthansa CityLine Est* Germany 4,750 11.8% 6.8 6.3% 59158 (160) Omni Air International USA 4,578 8.6% 1.0 6.9% 10159 (156) JetLite India 4,543 4.7% 4.8 10.6%160 (150) Vladivostok Air Russia 4,535 -4.6% 1.2 -3.8% 18161 (184) Jetstar Asia Airways Singapore 4,508 39.7% 2.7 18.0% 16162 (163) Webjet Brazil 4,506 9.4% 5.3 21.9% 28163 (168) Blue Panorama Airlines Italy 4,452 12.6% 2.0 27.7% 7=164 (177) Tianjin Airlines China 4,303 23.1% 4.5 17.1% 73=164 (170) SilkAir Singapore 4,303 9.7% 3.0 9.3% 21166 (165) Air Algerie Algeria 4,195 5.0% 3.5 5.1% 46167 (162) Comair (SA) South Africa 4,180 0.7% 4.3 1.4% 12168 (145) Comair USA 4,074 -19.1% 5.5 -15.0% 56169 (173) Anadolu Jet Turkey 4,014 9.5% 5.9 11.3% 28170 (183) Yunnan Airlines China 3,996 18.6% 3.1 16.0%171 (166) VIM-Avia Russia 3,961 -0.4% 1.6 21.5% 8172 (167) Interjet Mexico 3,878 -1.9% 6.4 60.1% 34173 (174) Middle East Airlines Lebanon 3,865 6.1% 2.1 7.5% 16174 (182) KLM Cityhopper Netherlands 3,819 12.2% 6.2 15.8% 54175 (155) Orbest Spain 3,737 -14.0% 1.2 -4.2% 7176 (175) US Airways Express USA 3,699 3.7% 7.9 -0.8%177 (176) AirBaltic Latvia 3,598 1.0% 3.3 4.5% 32178 (161) World Airways USA 3,548 -14.8% 0.4 -42.0% 7179 (192) GoAir India 3,540 20.3% 3.7 20.6% 13180 (179) Flybe UK 3,482 0.8% 7.1 5.3% 4181 (180) Malev * Hungary 3,474 1.3% 3.1 1.7% 60182 (169) Horizon Air USA 3,430 -13.0% 6.6 -2.6%183 (198) Globus Russia 3,427 26.3% 1.5 34.8% 48184 (181) Air Tahiti Nui F. Polynesia 3,417 -0.3% 0.4 2.3% 10185 (191) Yakutia Airlines Russia 3,375 11.4% 1.0 12.7% 5186 (185) Chang An Airlines China 3,280 3.0% 2.1 0.4% 28187 (199) Sun Country Airlines USA 3,258 22.2% 1.5 25.0% 15188 (189) Air Italy Italy 3,244 4.6% 0.9 -21.9% 10189 (193) QantasLink Australia 3,224 9.8% 4.9 12.4%190 (196) China United Airlines China 3,207 15.9% 2.6 21.4% 12191 (172) Compass Airlines USA 3,190 -15.2% 2.7 -19.3% 42192 (186) Air Wisconsin USA 3,125 -1.1% 6.0 1.1% 71193 (201) Iran Aseman Airlines Iran 3,033 19.8% 4.2 12.5% 37194 (195) Transavia France France 3,020 7.6% 1.6 3.7% 8195 (178) Chautauqua Airlines USA 3,016 -12.8% 5.3 -9.2% 70196 (187) Meridianafly Est* Italy 3,000 -4.8% 4.2 -5.0% 27197 (206) Air Nostrum Spain 2,938 23.1% 4.9 11.1% 54198 (234) Okay Airways China 2,897 97.6% 2.0 99.5% 14199 (197) PSA Airlines USA 2,817 3.2% 4.9 -2.1% 49200 (200) GoJet Airlines USA 2,742 4.7% 2.5 -6.6% 33NOTES: Est * Airline Business RPK estimate based on full year passenger data; * Malev ceased flights in February 2012

TOP 50 AIRLINES BY PASSENGERS

Rank Airline Pax Top 100(m) rank

1 Delta Air Lines 163.8 12 Southwest Airlines 135.3 33 American Airlines 86.2 24 Ryanair 76.4 145 China Eastern Airlines 68.7 126 Lufthansa 65.5 67 China Southern Airlines 63.7 118 EasyJet 54.5 229 US Airways 53.0 1310 United Airlines 50.5 511 Air France 50.0 712 Air China 48.7 1513 Continental Airlines 45.3 814 All Nippon Airways 44.9 2315 Qantas 44.5 1016 TAM Linhas Aereas 36.9 2517 GOL Linhas Aereas 36.2 3918 Air Berlin 35.3 2719 Emirates 34.0 420 British Airways 33.0 921 Turkish Airlines 32.6 2422 Air Canada 30.9 1823 JetBlue Airways 26.4 2924 Lion Air 25.9 5225 Japan Airlines 25.4 3026 KLM 25.1 1927 Alitalia 24.6 3828 SkyWest Airlines 23.7 6029 Korean Air 23.3 2030 Scandinavian Airlines 22.9 5331 LAN Airlines 22.6 3432 Saudia 20.1 3733 Pinnacle Airlines 20.0 8734 Cathay Pacific 19.5 1635 Virgin Australia 18.6 4536 Thai Airways International 18.4 2637 Shenzhen Airlines 18.3 5038 AirAsia 18.0 6439 Alaska Airlines 17.8 3640 American Eagle Airlines 17.3 8141 Jet Airways 17.3 4442 Singapore Airlines 17.2 1743 ExpressJet (1st) 16.2 8044 WestJet Airlines 16.0 4845 Norwegian 15.7 7346 Garuda Indonesia 15.4 5847 Qatar Airways 15.4 2148 Swiss Int’l Air Lines 15.3 4349 Xiamen Airlines 15.3 6850 Frontier Airlines 14.9 65




This year’s ranking includes the individual passenger airline operations of all mainline, regional and charter carriers. Subsidiary carriers and regionals have been included in their own right where they are identifiable, independent operators from their parent. Leisure operations have also been included reflecting the blurred line between scheduled and charter activities.

TRAFFIC/CAPACITY/LOADSTraffic data generally includes scheduled and charter except for those carriers, such as the US majors, where the scheduled-only figures are more commonly used. All data is in metric units as follows:RPK=revenue passenger km, ASK=available seat km, RTK=revenue tonne km, 1 US ton=1.1 tonnes and 1 mile=1.609km.

YEARResults are for the calendar year or for the fiscal year as stated in the notes.

NOMINAL YIELDThis represents the airline’s total passenger revenues divided by the revenue passenger kilometres flown. These may vary from figures quoted by the airline itself, which are generally on the basis of scheduled traffic only and will depend on internal accounting practices. Yield change is the change in local currency in order to avoid exchange rate distortions.

SOURCES AND ESTIMATESFleet data is provided by ACAS. All other figures are from company replies to Airline Business or company reports unless otherwise stated. Regulatory sources have been used including US DOT Form 41 data. Estimates based on analysis of historical traffic, regional trends, financial and fleet data have been made for carriers where no figures are available.

EMPLOYEESEmployees are for individual airlines, although note possible variations between bare year-end totals and average annual workforce strength.

TOP 200 TRAFFIC RANKINGS: NOTES AND DEFINITIONS

Aegean Airlines 144Aer Lingus 84Aeroflot 31Aerolineas Argentinas 101Aeromexico 61AeroSvit Airlines 139Air Algerie 166Air Arabia 111Air Astana 143Air Austral 142Air Berlin 27Air Canada 18Air Caraibes 156Air China 15Air Europa 72Air France 7Air India 66Air India Express 145Air Italy 188Air Mauritius 136Air New Zealand 49Air Nostrum 197Air Tahiti Nui 184Air Transat 74Air Wisconsin 192AirAsia 64AirBaltic 177Alaska Airlines 36Alitalia 38Allegiant Air 115American Airlines 2American Eagle 81All Nippon Airways 23Anadolu Jet 169Asiana Airlines 47Austrian 71Avianca 85Azul Linhas Aereas 130Biman Bangladesh 148Blue Panorama 163

British Airways 9British Midland Int'l 147Brussels Airlines 119Capital Airlines 131Cathay Pacific 16Cebu Pacific Air 104Chang An Airlines 186Chautauqua Airlines 195China Airlines 42China Eastern 12China Southern 11China United Airlines 190China Xinhua Airlines 122Comair 167Comair 168Compass Airlines 191Condor 56Continental Airlines 8Copa Airlines 75Corsairfly 109CSA Czech Airlines 150Delta Air Lines 1Dragonair 112EasyJet 22Egyptair 79El Al 70Emirates 4Ethiopian Airlines 91Etihad Airways 33EVA Air 55ExpressJet (1st) 80ExpressJet Airlines 108Finnair 63Flybe 180Frontier Airlines 65Garuda Indonesia 58Germanwings 134Globus 183GoAir 179GoJet Airlines 200

GOL Linhas Aereas 39Gulf Air 98Hainan Airlines 54Hawaiian Airlines 76Horizon Air 182Iberia 28Icelandair 155IndiGo 88Indonesia AirAsia 135Interjet 172Iran Air 113Iran Aseman Airlines 193Japan Airlines 30Jet Airways 44Jet2 123JetBlue Airways 29JetLite 159Jetstar 57Jetstar Asia 161Juneyao Airlines 137Kenya Airways 106Kingfisher Airlines 89KLM Cityhopper 174KLM 19Korean Air 20Kuwait Airways 125LAN Airlines 34Lion Air 52LOT Polish Airlines 128Lufthansa 6Lufthansa CityLine 157Mahan Air 132Malaysia Airlines 32Malev 181Meridiana fly 196Mesa Airlines 140Mesaba Airlines 149Middle East Airlines 173Monarch Airlines 82Nordwind Airlines 127

Norwegian 73Okay Airways 198Oman Air 120Omni Air International 158Onur Air 117Orbest 175Orenair 124Pakistan In't Airlines 78Pegasus Airlines 86Philippine Airlines 69Pinnacle Airlines 87PSA Airlines 199Qantas 10QantasLink 189Qatar Airways 21Republic Airlines 114Rossiya 129Royal Air Maroc 90Royal Brunei Airlines 153Royal Jordanian 121Ryanair 14S7 Airlines 103Saudia 39Scandinavian Airlines 53Shandong Airlines 94Shanghai Airlines 77Shenzhen Airlines 50Shuttle America 152Sichuan Airlines 67SilkAir 165Singapore Airlines 17Skymark Airlines 138SkyWest Airlines 31South African Airways 60Southwest Airlines 3Spanair 116SpiceJet 107Spirit Airlines 93Spring Airlines 105SriLankan Airlines 97

Sun Country Airlines 187SunExpress 95Swiss 43TAM Linhas Aereas 25TAP Portugal 52Thai AirAsia 126Thai Airways 26Thomas Cook (UK) 48Thomson Airways 41Tianjin Airlines 164Tiger Airways 118Transaero Airlines 40Transavia Airlines 102Transavia France 194Travel Service 146TUIfly 96Tunisair 154Turkish Airlines 24United Airlines 5Ural Airlines 133US Airways 13US Airways Express 176UTair Aviation 99Uzbekistan Airways 141Vietnam Airlines 59VIM-Avia 171Virgin America 92Virgin Atlantic 35Virgin Australia 45Vladivostok Air 160Volaris 110Vueling Airlines 100Webjet 162WestJet Airlines 48Wizz Air 83World Airways 178Xiamen Airlines 68XL Airways France 151Yakutia Airlines 185Yunnan Airlines 170

TOP 200 PASSENGER AIRLINES: ALPHABETICAL LISTING

Airline Rank Airline Rank Airline Rank Airline Rank Airline Rank

special report world airline rankings

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