Top 50 airlines by revenue in last 12 months

The Airfinance Journal’s ‘The Airline Analyst,’ have selected 50 airlines with the highest recorded Latest Twelve Month (LTM) revenue ending between December 2022 and June 2023. Some points of note from the graph below:

• Emirates Airline have over 50% of the world’s active A380s – unsurprising that the ‘Average LTM Revenue Per Aircraft’ is so high’

• Contrast between Virgin Atlantic and Qatar being above the trend line as compared to Thai Airways and Cathay Pacific below the trend line. The focus of Virgin on the profitable North Atlantic route could be a reason for this and Qatar being a major hub into Europe and Africa.

• The level ‘Average LTM Revenue Per Aircraft’ could also be due to the time when countries ended their COVID-19 lockdown as well as how quick they were able to recover economically.

• Airlines that sit below the trend line have an operating fleet of predominately narrow body aircraft – the exception being Thai Airways and Cathay Pacific.

• Airlines that sit above the trend line have a high proportion of wide body aircraft.

• Four largest Chinese airlines sit furthest below the curve – illuminating the lack affordability in Chinese domestic markets and the stagnant growth in its economy

This data only refers to revenue and passengers and not the cost structures for each airline – this is due to be published next month in the Airfinance Journal. The questions that need to be addressed is: – Do wide body aircraft have greater economies of scale than narrow body aircraft? – Is the cost per passenger lower in wide body than narrow body aircraft?

For more on Revenue and Costs view the key notes (accompanied by fully coloured diagrams/models) on elearneconomics that will assist students to understand concepts and terms for external examinations, assignments or topic tests.