United Airlines has just reached a pretty impressive milestone, as the Chicago-based carrier became the first in the world to have a mainline fleet of 1,000 aircraft.
United is the largest airline in the world by several metrics
United just reached a noteworthy milestone. With the latest Boeing 737 MAX 9 that the airline took delivery of, the carrier became the first in the world to have a mainline fleet of 1,000 jets.
Just as a point of comparison, American’s mainline fleet has 978 jets, while Delta’s mainline fleet has 985 jets. Of course this doesn’t factor in regional operations, as those numbers fluctuate quite a bit.
However, this isn’t the only metric by which United is the largest of the “big three.” For example, in 2024, United also offered the most available seat miles of any of the “big three” US carriers:
- United offered 311,185,000,000 seat miles, a 6.8% increase compared to the year before
- American offered 292,948,000,000 seat miles, a 5.5% increase compared to the year before
- Delta offered 288,394,000,000 seat miles, a 6% increase compared to the year before
As you can see, while United’s fleet is only marginally bigger than those of American and Delta, the airline actually has quite a lead with available seat miles, and that partly reflects that United operates considerably more long haul and ultra long haul flights than competitors. For example, United’s average segment length is 1,490 miles, while American’s is 1,154 miles.
United also serves the most destinations of any US airline, including flying to the most countries.
Before someone jumps in and makes a “premium” point, let me of course acknowledge that size and profitability aren’t the same thing. Looking at 2024 numbers:
- American had $54.2 billion in operating revenue and $2.6 billion in operating income
- Delta had $57 billion in operating revenue and $6 billion in operating income
- United had $57.1 billion in operating revenue and $5.1 billion in operating income
So United actually is also the “largest” airline in terms of operating revenue, though as you can see, not in terms of profitability, where it still lags Delta.
Will United maintain its number one spot in 2025?
As you can see, all of the “big three” US carriers are very close to one another in terms of the metrics of fleet, available seat miles, etc. It’s interesting to note how the metric of which airline is biggest has changed over time.
Going into the pandemic, American was the biggest airline in the world. However, the airline was aggressive with retiring existing aircraft (including 757s and A330s), while United retired very few aircraft during the pandemic.
It’s hard to know how 2025 will play out in terms of which airline will be largest, since it’s so dependent on the ability of Airbus and Boeing to actually deliver new aircraft on schedule. Looking at the order books of airlines and potential 2025 deliveries:
- American hopes to take delivery of Airbus A321neos, Airbus A321XLRs, Boeing 737 MAX 8s, and Boeing 787-9s
- Delta hopes to take delivery of Airbus A220-300s, Airbus A321neos, Airbus A330-900neos, and Airbus A350-900s
- United hopes to take delivery of Airbus A321neos, Airbus A321XLRs, Boeing 737 MAX 8s, Boeing 737 MAX 9s, and Boeing 787s (multiple variants)
Given how close the carriers currently are, it’s anyone’s guess how this plays out, since aircraft manufacturers have been so challenged with delivering planes on-time.
I suspect United will keep its number one spot in terms of fleet size and available seat miles in 2025, given the direction the airline has been trending when it comes to capacity, plus the absolutely huge order book that United has. Delta will be taking delivery of quite a few wide body aircraft in 2025, but I don’t think the overall added capacity will exceed that of United. It’s very possible Delta overtakes American in terms of available seat miles, though. Only time will tell!
Bottom line
United has just reached an impressive milestone, as it became the first airline to have 1,000 mainline aircraft. Both American and Delta are within a couple of dozen jets of that number, so aren’t far behind. In 2024, United also offered the most available seat miles, had the most operating revenue, and served the most destinations.
For quite some time, American was the largest of the “big three” US carriers, though those days are no more. It’ll be interesting to see how those numbers compare for 2025, and if United maintains its number one spot for size.
What do you make of this 1,000 aircraft milestone for United?
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