American, Delta, United dubbed world’s top three busiest airlines

Dhaka: American Airlines comes out as the busiest airline in the world in June 2023, with an estimated 170,541 flight frequencies, an uptick of about 2.4 per cent compared to May 2023, according to data provided by OAG.

Delta Air Lines comes second, as the Atlanta-based carrier boasts 140,760 flight frequencies. It only has a slight uptick of 0.1 per cent in June's flight frequencies compared to May.

United Airlines comes third, by offering an estimated 130,707 flight frequencies. The airline's frequency in June is the only one that declined compared to May’s by about 0.2 per cent.

Unfortunately, when comparing all three carriers' current flight frequencies in June 2023 to pre-pandemic June 2019 numbers, all three are still falling behind. American Airlines is about 16.3 per cent short, Delta Air Lines lags the furthest with 18 per cent, and United Airlines strays the least with 15.3 per cent.

After the big three dominance comes Southwest Airlines with approximately 122,377 flight frequencies in June, an unfortunate downtick of about 2.3 per cent compared to the flight frequencies boasted in May.

However, compared to pre-pandemic levels, the budget carrier currently offers an estimated 3.4 per cent more flights this month, signaling a solid relative position.

Notably, the US budget carrier will be the last offering over 100,000 flight frequencies for June as closing in for the fifth busiest airline worldwide in June is the Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair with about 93,212 flight frequencies, an increase of about 1.5 per cent compared to May. Compared to pre-pandemic numbers, Ryanair is offering 28.6 per cent more flights in June 2023.

With the official arrival of the summer travel season, worldwide capacity within the aviation industry is forecasted to reach 479.2 million in June, just 2.9 per cent shy of June 2019 levels and about 1 per cent higher than May.