Southwest takes #1 spot from AA for carrying most passengers

[swamt]

SWA slides above AA for the most passengers carried and it does include US Air as well. A milestone I did not think would be reached until 2020 or later, especially since AA and US merged. A huge milestone for that little carrier over at Love Field.

Southwest carried the most passengers in the US in 2016

 

[FWAAA]

While it is true that WN boarded more passengers than AA mainline in 2016, that ignores the 54 million passengers boarded on American Eagle flights, flown by several different airlines (some wholly-owned and some not). Prior to the mergers at both AA and WN, Southwest carried more domestic passengers than any other airline (including regionals added to their mainline partners).

 

[does this plane go to paris]

While it is true that WN boarded more passengers than AA mainline in 2016, that ignores the 54 million passengers boarded on American Eagle flights, flown by several different airlines (some wholly-owned and some not). Prior to the mergers at both AA and WN, Southwest carried more domestic passengers than any other airline (including regionals added to their mainline partners).

Kind of off topic, but the response of the United Pilot MEC regarding the UA 3411 incident sure makes a clear distinction that even though it was branded as a UA flight, the Pilot statement makes it clear that it was a Republic Airlines aircraft and flight crew.

Which brings in the semantics of why airlines sell tickets, brand airplanes and create joint ventures with other carriers while not using their own metal and when something goes wrong, they say, oops, not us.

If an airline wants to claim to be the largest carrier, carrying the most passengers, then I would suggest that they pay their employee's the same amount, from the same bank account and same rules. If that makes it WN, simply because they don't use regional or JV's, then so be it. Just my 2 cents.