AIRLINE GROUPS
The holding companies behind the world's airlines
Most major airlines answer to a holding company that owns several carriers at once — sometimes wholly, sometimes through a minority stake in a rival it doesn't control. This directory profiles those groups and the ownership relationships we can independently confirm, including the stakes airlines sometimes hold in each other.
A starting list of organizations in this category. LandingAtlas profiles will expand as the directory grows — providers can claim their profile once claiming opens.
Air France–KLM
Paris, France
Air France–KLM is the Paris-area holding company formed on 5 May 2004 from the merger of Air France and KLM, employing roughly 78,000 people and generating €30 billion in 2023 revenue. It wholly owns both national carriers along with their Transavia low-cost brands and the Martinair cargo operation, and holds minority stakes in several carriers it doesn't control outright — Kenya Airways (7.95%), Morocco's Royal Air Maroc (1.25%), Canada's WestJet (2.3%), Brazil's Gol (1.19%) and Air Mauritius (2.78%) among them. Its largest minority position is in Scandinavian Airlines (SAS): a 19.9% stake taken in 2025 is intended to rise to 60.5% pending competition approval, which would turn SAS from an associate into a group subsidiary.
International Airlines Group (IAG)
London, UK (registered in Madrid, Spain)
International Airlines Group (IAG) was formed on 21 January 2011 when British Airways and Iberia merged into a single holding company, registered in Madrid with corporate headquarters in London. It wholly owns British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus (acquired 2015) and Vueling (acquired 2013), together employing over 75,000 people and generating €33.2 billion in revenue in 2025. Qatar Airways has built a significant minority position in IAG itself — roughly 25.1% of voting rights as of early 2026 — making it the group's largest single outside shareholder.
Lufthansa Group
Cologne, Germany
Lufthansa Group is the holding structure behind Deutsche Lufthansa AG, tracing its modern form to Luftag's founding in Cologne on 6 January 1953 (the company took the Lufthansa name and livery the following year). Beyond its own Lufthansa-branded mainline, the group wholly owns Swiss International Air Lines, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings and Air Dolomiti, holds a 50% stake in the SunExpress joint venture with Turkish Airlines, and took a 10% stake in Latvia's airBaltic in January 2025. It also holds 41% of Italy's ITA Airways (acquired 2023) with an option — exercised in mid-2026 — to raise that to 90% once EU and US antitrust clearance comes through, expected around Q1 2027; separately, in October 2026 the Portuguese government selected Lufthansa to acquire up to 49.9% of TAP Air Portugal for €1.2 billion, a deal not expected to close before 2028.
Qatar Airways
Doha, Qatar
Qatar Airways is the Doha-headquartered, state-owned flag carrier of Qatar, operating one of the world's largest long-haul widebody networks from its Hamad International Airport hub. Beyond running its own airline, it has built a significant investor position in rival network-carrier groups — most visibly in Britain and Spain's International Airlines Group (IAG), where its stake stood at roughly 25.1% of voting rights in early 2026, up from 21.4% in 2020.
Turkish Airlines
Istanbul, Turkey
Turkish Airlines is Turkey's flag carrier, headquartered at Istanbul Airport, with Turkey's sovereign wealth fund among its largest shareholders. Alongside its own mainline and AJet low-cost operations, it co-owns the SunExpress joint venture with Lufthansa Group on a 50/50 basis, and in 2026 won Spanish government approval for a minority stake of roughly 25–27% in Air Europa — a deal still awaiting European Commission clearance and expected to complete in 2026.
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