Possibly one of the most important things about airlines are their brands. Having a name that is instantly recognised or one that people immediately think of when it comes to book a flight is very important for any business.

Brand Finance have come out with the world’s most valuable and strongest brands for 2018. Interestingly, the top airlines are all US carriers, holding four of the top five positions – the same as last year.

Which Brands Come Out On Top?

American Airlines is the top airline brand of 2018, followed closely by Delta Air Lines and United Airlines. Global juggernaut Emirates comes in at number four with Southwest Airlines rounding out the top five.


China also has several airlines ranking highly. China Southern and China Eastern are at six and seven, with Air China at number nine. British Airways at eight and Lufthansa at ten round out the top ten for the year.

How Are The Rankings Calculated?

Delving into the report shows a number of metrics used to calculate the rankings. There is also quite a bit of commentary around individual airlines as well, so give it a look.

Aeroflot from Russia is mentioned as the world’s strongest brand. Why? When you base the figures on marketing investment, familiarity, loyalty, staff satisfaction and corporate reputation. Even though they don’t make the top ten list (they rank at 24) they are apparently still the world’s strongest brand based on the metric mentioned.

Overall Thoughts

When it comes to statistics, they can be sliced and diced in a number of ways to get different results. The report makes for interesting reading and is useful for Marketing teams to see what an outside analysis of the brands gives.

Whether this would make any difference to a passenger when choosing an airline or not depends on the person. I am not one who would make a choice of carrier based on their brand. That being said, the most popular brands are all ones I am familiar with and I guess that is the whole point.

What do you think of this report? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image by Alan Wilson via Wikimedia Commons.
United Airlines image by Oscar Elvir Vasquez via Jetphotos.net