GENEVA: The world's five biggest airlines by market value now hail from Asia and Latin America (LatAm), highlighting the industry's shift away from the US and Europe to higher-growth countries, the International Air Transport Association said Tuesday. Based on its share price, Air China is twice the size of either Delta in the US or Germany's Lufthansa, indicating that markets expect future revenue growth to be strongest in Asia, IATA said. “The world is changing in aviation, and it's changing very, very quickly,” IATA Chief Executive Giovanni Bisignani told a news conference in Geneva. “Rapidly developing markets are shifting the industry's center of gravity to the East.” Air China has seen its market capitalization surge to $20 billion, followed by Singapore airlines with $14 billion and Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific with $12 billion. China Southern has a market cap of $11 billion, as does LATAM, the Latin American airline recently created from the merger of Chile's LAN and TAM of Brazil. US carrier Delta and Germany's Lufthansa follow with market capitalizations of $10 billion each. By passenger miles flown - a common measure of airline size - Delta still ranks as the world's number one, followed by American Airlines and United, with Air China outside the top ten. But burgeoning demand in the East will likely see Asian carriers rise up the table.
