Europe's aviation market

European aviation at a glance

• Busiest airport: London Heathrow 
• Top airline: Ryanair
• Country with most international airline capacity: Spain and the UK

Airline capacity in Europe

How much airline capacity is there in Europe this month?

• Overall capacity in the European market grew by 2% vs May 25 to 158.3m.
  
• International capacity grew by 1.9%, whilst domestic capacity increased by 2.5% vs May 25.
  
• LCC capacity grew by 4.9% vs last year, whilst Mainline carrier capacity grew by 0.2% but still represents 60% of the market.

*As of July 2025, international capacity is reported on a two-way basis (previously one-way departing)

Which European country has most airline capacity (domestic + international)?

• Spain and the UK are the largest country markets, with 17.7m and 17m seats respectively in May 26.  Capacity increased by 5.1% in Spain and 2.3% in the UK vs May 25.
• Capacity grew at the fastest rate again in Poland by 17.85%, with an additional 527k seats.
• Volume wise capacity saw most growth in Italy and Spain by 853,200k and 852,200k seats respectively.

Which European country has most domestic airline capacity?

• Türkiye and Spain are the largest domestic markets, with 5.28m seats and 5.18m seats respectively in May 26. Domestic capacity in Türkiye increased by 10.3% vs last year.
• Domestic  capacity in the UK grew by 6.4% vs last year, an additional 136k seats and by 5% in Italy, an additional 192k seats in May 26.
• Domestic capacity reduced by 6.9% in Germany, in a higher cost environment Lufthansa is reallocating aircraft to higher yield and long haul routes, reducing domestic flights particularly.

Top 10 busiest airports in Europe (departing seats)

Which is the busiest airport in Europe?

• London Heathrow is the busiest airport in Europe this month, with 4.42m seats, despite a reduction in capacity of 1.8% vs last year.
• A close second, Istanbul Airport also reduced capacity by 2.2% to 4.23m seats in May 26.
• Strongest growth in the Top 10 airports comes again from Madrid and Barcelona where carriers have increased capacity by 7.3% and 5.8% respectively year on year.
• Capacity fell most this month in Munich by 9.6%, 251k fewer seats vs May 25.
• READY TO VIEW: The World's Busiest Airports of 2025
  

Airline capacity by region

Which region of Europe has most airline capacity?

• 74% of capacity operates from or within Western Europe, growing by 2.3% vs last year to 117.1m seats.
• Capacity in Eastern/Central Europe continues to grow at a faster rate of 7.3%, to 20.5m seats.