United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and American Airlines are the three big US-based airlines offering international flights across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe and to Africa to a lesser extent. JetBlue also offers transatlantic flights with its narrowbody aircraft, although these are far fewer, and Alaska Airlines is poised to start transatlantic operations in April 2026 following the acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines and its 787 Dreamliner aircraft. So, of the big three, which has the most transatlantic flights?

The following data is for 2026 and is provided by Cirium, an aviation analytics company. The data is for transatlantic flights from the United States to both Europe and Africa, and the number of flights listed on each route is always one-way, with an identical number of additional return flights. It should be noted that US carriers are not like most international carriers that typically have a single major hub (e.g., Heathrow for BA or Dubai for Emirates). US carriers typically have around half a dozen major hubs, with each often offering flights to major European destinations.

American Airlines Transatlantic Flights To Europe

American Airlines is to operate a total of 40,502 flights (including return flights) from the United States to Europe, carrying a total of 10.5 million seats and generating 45.3 billion ASMs. The single most busy route is from Dallas/Fort Worth to London-Heathrow with 1,424 flights and 402,000 seats, with the same number of flights and seats returning. The next busiest route is from its hub at Charlotte (CLT) to Heathrow with 1,078 flights and 310,000 seats in each direction.

After that, the next busiest American Airlines transatlantic route is also to London-Heathrow with 1,070 flights scheduled from New York-JFK. London continues to dominate America’s busiest transatlantic routes with 935 flights from Orlando, 711 flights from Los Angeles, 575 flights from Philadelphia, and 492 flights from Miami. The busiest non-London Heathrow route is to Madrid–Barajas Airport from Miami (398 flights), followed by Paris-CDG from Dallas (365).

Other European destinations American Airlines is to serve include Frankfurt, Barcelona, Lisbon, Dublin, Amsterdam, Zurich, Rome, and others. Notably, American Airlines is not operating any flights directly to Africa, so all the 40,502 flights mentioned here are to Europe, with particular emphasis on London-Heathrow from its various US hubs. American Airlines has the distinction of being the world’s largest carrier by number of flights, although this is aided by the fact that these flights tend to be shorter than those of Delta and United.

Delta Transatlantic Flights To Europe

Delta Air Lines is scheduled to have 56,793 transatlantic flights (including return flights) carrying 14.8 million seats and generating 63.2 billion ASMs. The vast majority of these flights are to Europe. Like American, the single busiest Delta route is to London-Heathrow with 1,095 one-way flights scheduled between Atlanta and Heathrow. But unlike American, the top European destinations are not dominated by Heathrow.

The next busiest transatlantic corridors are Dallas-Fort Worth to Amsterdam (1,005 flights), Atlanta to Amsterdam (940 flights), MSP to Amsterdam (940 flights), New York-JFK to Paris-CDG (898 flights), Atlanta to Paris-CDG (810 flights), and New York-JFK to London-Heathrow (730 flights).

Delta is notable for not purchasing the extremely popular Boeing 787 Dreamliner, although there are rumors that it will soon place a large order for the type. For now, Delta operates a widebody fleet of Airbus A330s, Airbus A350s, and a dwindling fleet of aging Boeing 767s. Each of the three biggest US-based carriers can claim to be the largest in the world by different metrics, although Delta is currently the most highly valued publicly traded airline.

United Transatlantic Flights To Europe

United Airlines is scheduled to have the most transatlantic flights of the three to Europe and Africa, with a total of 63,021 flights scheduled. These are to carry 14.9 million seats and generate 65.4 billion ASMs. Like American, London-Heathrow dominates United’s busiest transatlantic corridors. Its New York-Newark Liberty to London-Heathrow route is by far the busiest of all the transatlantic routes flown by US-based carriers, with a total of 2,530 one-way flights scheduled to carry 422,000 seats, and generating 1.5 billion ASMs.

The other four busiest routes are Orlando to London-Heathrow (1,094 flights), San Francisco to Heathrow (939 flights), Washington-Dulles to Heathrow (729 flights), and Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental to Heathrow (729 flights). After that, United starts flying to other European destinations like Frankfurt, Paris, Dublin, Rome, Berlin, Barcelona, and others from its various US hubs.

By comparison with other US-based carriers, American Airlines stands out as having the lowest-average fare, but this is partly because it also tends to operate some of the shortest flights on average. By contrast, United operates the longest-average flights of the big three, although airlines like JetBlue operate the longest-average routes in the United States. United operates some of the longest-haul flights connecting the US intercontinentally.

Delta’s Transatlantic Flights To Africa

For US carriers, Africa is a minor destination compared with Europe. Delta is offering eight routes to six African destinations from two US hubs. Of the 56,793 transatlantic flights Delta is scheduled to operate in 2026, just 3,164 or 5.6% of them are to Africa, with the other 94.6% to Europe. These flights will carry a total of 840,000 seats during the year. From Atlanta, it flies to Johannesburg in South Africa (321 flights), Cape Town in South Africa (201 flights), Accra in Ghana (46 flights), Lagos in Nigeria (362), and Marrakesh in Morocco (93).

From New York-JFK, Delta Air Lines is scheduled to fly to Accra (365 flights), Lagos (15 flights), and Dakar in Senegal (142 flights). This means that South Africa is Delta’s top African destination with 522 flights to its two main airports. With return flights, that’s 1,044 of the total 3,164 flights. It is clear from the destinations that some, like Marrakesh and Cape Town, are tourism-focused, while others, like Accra and Lagos, are not.

Notable African destinations missing from Delta’s (and United’s) African networks include Egypt, Kenya, and Tanzania. While airlines like Delta, United, and American do connect the United States intercontinentally to much of the world (e.g., Africa, India, China, Southeast Asia) are fairly weak. Airlines like Emirates and Qatar Airways are the airlines that truly specialize in connecting the world. This is more difficult for US-based carriers as they operate with dispersed hubs across the US.

United’s Transatlantic Flights To Africa

An even smaller percentage of United’s 63,021 scheduled transatlantic flights are scheduled to Africa. In 2026, United is scheduled to operate 2,573 flights (including return flights) carrying 629,000 seats to Africa, representing 4.1% of its transatlantic flights. United Airlines is operating Africa-bound flights from two hubs: New York-Newark and Washington Dulles. From Newark, there are to be 343 flights to Johannesburg, 178 flights to Cape Town, and 97 flights to Marrakesh.

From Washington Dulles, United is to operate 275 one-way flights to Accra, 156 flights to Cape Town, 223 flights to Lagos, and 14 flights to Dakar. Like Delta, South Africa remains the most popular destination in Africa and the only destination on the continent to have two destinations served with direct flights by US-based airlines.

Marrakesh remains the only North Africa destination for US-based operators. This is a leisure flight as Marrakesh is neither the capital nor the largest city of Morocco, but rather it is the main tourist destination. To reach other destinations in Africa, United (along with American and Delta) relies on partnerships like fellow Star Alliance partner, EgyptAir, to Cairo. Notably, United is partnered with the major African airline, Ethiopian Airlines, which connects the continent more than any other.

United Operates Most Europe Flights, Delta Most To Africa

Overall, United Airlines has the most transatlantic flights to Europe and Africa, operating 6,700 more flights than Delta, and 12,500 more than American. However, these flights are generally with lower-capacity airliners than Delta, meaning that United only just edges out Delta by seat count (14.9 million to 14.8 million). Delta is stronger with its Africa-bound transatlantic flights carrying 840,000 seats compared with United’s 926,000.

In 2019, American Airlines announced its first-ever direct route to Africa, a route that was supposed to fly from Philadelphia to Casablanca in Morocco and was scheduled to start in June 2020. However, the pandemic intervened, and this flight never happened. Since then, American has canceled its planned African expansion, and it is unclear if there are any plans to one day resurrect those plans.

It is remarkable that of all the 56 or so countries in Africa, United and Delta operate flights to essentially the same 5–7 countries. There are no flights to Central or East Africa. Flights to Europe are very Western Europe-heavy and especially London-Heathrow-heavy (particularly for American and United). There are almost no flights to Eastern Europe by the big three US-based carriers (counting Greece as Southern Europe). That said, flights to Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine have been banned since 2022.