So where will a merged Continental and United Airlines sit in the world order of airlines?
Well in passenger traffic terms, if you base it on RPKs for 2009 for the respective carriers pre-merger, Continental/United comes out top of the lot, marginally ahead of Delta following its merger with Northwest. But in passenger terms it would come in second behind them - carrying more than a hundred million passengers annually, but around 15 million less than Delta. And in revenue terms they sit in third place behind Europe's Lufthansa and Air France-KLM. But the merged carrier would still dwarf what a merged British Airways and Iberia would look like. (Figures from Flightglobal Insight; all data based on 2009 calendar year - 2009/10 financial year results not released yet for Air France/KLM and BA/Iberia)
2009 RPKs (m) Passengers Revenues
Continental/United 312,258 101.7m $28.9bn
Delta 304,025 116.0m $28.1bn
Air France/KLM 202,045 71.5m $30.5bn
American Airlines 196,904 85.7m $20.0bn
Lufthansa* 164.475 88.5m $31.0bn
BA/Iberia 161,927 52.8m $19.1bn
*Lufthansa traffic figures include FY 2009 data for Austrian Airlines, bmi, Brussels Airlines and Swiss International Air Lines
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