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World's 25 biggest airlines

Last updated on: January 3, 2013 10:27 IST

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Image: United Airlines.
Photographs: Reuters.

United Airlines, following its merger with Continental has emerged as the world's biggest airline measured by available seat kilometers (capacity).

The biggest movers in the overall World Top 50 list include Turkish Airlines, which jumped seven places to rank 15th globally, while Indonesian carrier Lion Air vaulted 8 places to enter the global Top 40 for the first time.

Jet Airways has slipped seven places to the 46th rank, while IndiGo has emerged as one of the fastest growing airlines in the list of biggest airlines of 2012 compiled by the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA).

Here's a look at the 25 biggest airlines based on deployed capacity...

United Airlines (Rank 1)

Capacity Dec 2012: 6.14 billion

Capacity Dec 2011: 3.67 billion

Percentage change: 67.3%

(United and Continental has been combined for 2012 but not 2011. Available seat kilometers/Capacity-- Representative sample week in December of each year )

Image: Delta Air Lines.
Photographs: Reuters.

Delta Air Lines (Rank 2)

Capacity Dec 2012: 5.64 billion

Capacity Dec 2011: 5.65 billion

Percentage change: -0.3% 

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Delta Air LinesRank

Photographs: Reuters.

Emirates (Rank 3)

Capacity Dec 2012: 4.99 billion

Capacity Dec 2011: 4.21 billion

Percentage change: 18.4%

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Rank

Photographs: Reuters.

American Airlines (Rank 4)

Capacity Dec 2012: 4.80 billion

Capacity Dec 2011: 4.74 billion

Percentage change: 1.3%

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American Airlines
Image: Southwest Airlines.
Photographs: Luiz Eduardo/Wikimedia Commons.

Southwest Airlines (Rank 5)

Capacity Dec 2012:   3.27 billion

Capacity Dec 2011: 3.05 billion

Percentage change: 7.3%

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Southwest Airlines

Photographs: Lasse Fuss/Wikimedia Commons.

Lufthansa (Rank 6)

Capacity Dec 2012: 3.15 billion

Capacity Dec 2011: 3.23 billion

Percentage change: -2.3%

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Lufthansa
Image: British Airways.
Photographs: Albion/Wikimedia Commons.

British Airways (Rank 7)

Capacity Dec 2012: 3.04 billion

Capacity Dec 2011: 2.96 billion

Percentage change: 2.7%

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Image: Air France.
Photographs: Reuters.

Air France (Rank 8)

Capacity Dec 2012: 2.82 billion

Capacity Dec 2011: 2.94 billion

Percentage change: -4.2% 

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Image: China Southern Airlines.
Photographs: Reuters.

China Southern (Rank 9)

Capacity Dec 2012: 2.59 billion

Capacity Dec 2011: 2.33 billion

Percentage change: 11%

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China Southern
Image: Singapore Airlines.
Photographs: Reuters.

Singapore Airlines (Rank 10)

Capacity Dec 2012: 2.37 billion

Capacity Dec 2011: 2.28 billion

Percentage change: 4.0% 

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Singapore Airlines
Image: Passengers wait in line at a Cathay Pacific Airways check-in counter at the Hong Kong international airport.
Photographs: Bobby Yip/Reuters.

Cathay Pacific (Rank 11)

Capacity Dec 2012: 2.31 billion

Capacity Dec 2011: 2.51 billion

Percentage change: -8.2%

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Cathay Pacific

Photographs: Dtom/Wikimedia Commons.

Air China (Rank 12)

Capacity Dec 2012: 2.19 billion

Capacity Dec 2011: 1.97 billion

Percentage change: 11.0% 

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China
Image: A worker is seen loading luggage on a plane from US Airways at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey.
Photographs: Eduardo Munoz/Reuters.

US Airways (Rank 13)

Capacity Dec 2012:   2.01 billion

Capacity Dec 2011: 2.14 billion

Percentage change: -6.1%

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US Airways
Image: China Eastern.

China Eastern (Rank 14)

Capacity Dec 2012: 1.98 billion

Capacity Dec 2011: 1.80 billion

Percentage change: 10.2% 

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China Eastern
Image: Turkish Airlines.

Turkish Airlines (Rank 15)

Capacity Dec 2012: 1.91 billion

Capacity Dec 2011: 1.54 billion

Percentage change: 24.0%

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Turkish Airlines

Photographs: Qantas Airways.

Qantas Airways (Rank 16)

Capacity Dec 2012: 1.86 billion

Capacity Dec 2011: 1.96 billion

Percentage change: -5.3% 

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Qantas Airways

Photographs: Per aspera ad Astra/Wikimedia Commons.

Qatar Airways (Rank 17)

Capacity Dec 2012: 1.79 billion

Capacity Dec 2011: 1.65 billion

Percentage change: 8.7% 

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Qatar Airways
Image: KLM.
Photographs: Skinnylawyer/Wikimedia Commons.

KLM (Rank 18)

Capacity Dec 2012: 1.78 billion

Capacity Dec 2011: 1.74 billion

Percentage change: 2.4% 

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KLM
Image: Korean Air Lines.
Photographs: Mattun0211/Wikimedia Commons.

Korean Air Lines (Rank 19)

Capacity Dec 2012: 1.73 billion

Capacity Dec 2011: 1.69 billion

Percentage change: 2.1% 

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Korean Air Lines
Image: Thai Airways.
Photographs: Strower/Wikimedia Commons.

Thai Airways (Rank 20)

Capacity Dec 2012: 1.70 billion

Capacity Dec 2011: 1.60 billion

Percentage change: 6.3% 

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Photographs: Arpingstone/Wikimedia Commons.

Air Canada (Rank 21)

Capacity Dec 2012: 1.67 billion

Capacity Dec 2011: 1.69 billion

Percentage change: -1.6%

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Air Canada
Image: All Nippon Airways.
Photographs: Masgatotkaca/Wikimedia Commons.

All Nippon Airways (Rank 22)

Capacity Dec 2012: 1.54 billion

Capacity Dec 2011: 1.24 billion

Percentage change: 24.3%

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Nippon Airways

Photographs: Morio/Wikimedia Commons.

TAM (Rank 23)

Capacity Dec 2012: 1.49 billion

Capacity Dec 2011: 1.48 billion

Percentage change: 0.7% 

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TAM

Photographs: Ruthann/Wikimedia Commons.

Ryanair (Rank 24)

Capacity Dec 2012: 1.47 billion

Capacity Dec 2011: 1.59 billion

Percentage change: -7.2%

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Japan Airlines (Rank 25)

Capacity Dec 2012: 1.37 billion

Capacity Dec 2011: 1.39 billion

Percentage change: -1.2%


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Japan Airlines
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