By virtue of its merger with Northwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines has jumped to the top of the list in numbers of enplaned passengers.

It’ll keep that spot even after the merger of United Airlines and Continental Airlines is fully implemented and those two carriers begin operating as United Airlines only. (The Bureau of Transportation Statistics still counts United and Continental separately since they’re still operating under their own operating certificates.

But Southwest Airlines, which lost the top spot after the Delta-Northwest merger, will go back to the top, in all likehood, when its merger with AirTran Airways is completed and the two carriers begin operating as Southwest Airlines only.

Delta, with Northwest, had 110.9 million passengers in 2010. United, with Continental, had 97.6 million. Southwest, with AirTran, had 130.8 million.

American Airlines, No. 2 in 2009 and No. 3 in 2010, would drop to fourth.

For the record, Delta with Northwest’s passengers had 108.6 million passengers in 2009.

Passengers (in millions)

2010 Rank Airline 2010 2009 Rank 2009 Change
1 Delta 110.93 3 67.75 63.7%
2 Southwest 106.23 1 101.34 4.8%
3 American 86.13 2 85.72 0.5%
4 United 54.08 4 56.03 -3.5%
5 US Airways 51.81 5 50.98 1.6%
6 Continental 43.48 6 43.95 -1.1%
7 AirTran 24.56 8 23.97 2.5%
8 SkyWest 24.22 10 21.25 14.0%
9 JetBlue 24.20 9 22.38 8.1%
10 Alaska 16.48 12 15.52 6.2%

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