American, Delta And United Are World's Most Valuable Airline Brands

A report from valuation and strategy consultancy Brand Finance on the world’s most valuable airline brands has revealed that US carriers American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United are the most powerful, even though their values dropped in 2017.

American Airlines is the world’s most valuable airline brand once again in 2018, despite its value falling by 7 per cent to $9.1 billion on last year. In second place, Delta has also been experiencing turbulence, down 6 per cent to $8.7 billion, while in third place, United is down 2 per cent to $7 billion. But this hasn’t been enough to knock them off the top spots.

data-param-cid="62cec241-7d09-4462-afc2-f72f8d8ef40a"
data-player-id="44f947fb-a5ce-41f1-a4fc-78dcf31c262a"
data-playlist-id=9f914deb-4288-4fd7-b59b-0d4d3ca3c704
data-elements-player="true"
layout="responsive"
width="16"
height="9"
>

A statement from the company said: “The trio of big American airlines have each failed to grow their brand values as they suffered from a series of larger macro-economic challenges in a post-consolidation phase. In addition, they have been beset by higher fuel costs and a number of flight cancellations caused by storms.

“Meanwhile, the rise of social media has allowed unhappy customers to share a number of stories that have spread virally, but this does not appear to be causing significant long-term damage to airline brands.”

Over in Europe, Lufthansa has entered the top ten with a 29 per cent brand value increase to $2.9 billion. Brand Finance said: “Lufthansa benefited from a contraction in airline capacity caused by the collapse of Air Berlin, which reduced the competition that the brand faced in central European markets. These broader issues combined to boost the Lufthansa brand, which represents a bounce back from difficulties in 2015 and 2016, when the airline experienced a significant fall in consumer sales.”

In the Middle East, Emirates has come up trumps with a brand value of $5.3 billion, despite its value plunging 12 per cent. In 16th place, Qatar Airways is valued at $1.9 billion (down 11 per cent), while Etihad in 25th place is down 11 per cent to $1.4 billion.

Brand Finance said: “With direct flights undermining the hub-and-spoke model favored by Middle Eastern airlines, and due to broader geo-political issues, the three largest brands in the region decreased significantly in value.”

On the up, however, are Chinese airlines, with China Southern, China Eastern and Air China all in the top ten and with brand values increasing significantly.

David Haigh, CEO of Brand Finance, said: “In the airline market, customers are making decisions about brands on a very narrow range of factors: price, routing, and schedules. Despite big viral news stories which gained media attention globally affecting several brands, in the airline business, it is reliability on delivering core services that customers find key in taking purchasing decisions.

“Consequently, the Chinese brands are the big winners in this area as they have been able to grow their brands by giving customers greater confidence in their dependability and safety as they grow alongside the Chinese economy.”

World’s Ten Most Valuable Airline Brands

You can read the full report from Brand Finance here.