Europe's Aviation Market

Monthly Airline Data Updates for the European Market

Discover the Busiest Airports and Airlines in Europe This Month | September 2025

How much airline capacity is there in Europe? Find out with new data each month, detailing:

  • Which is the busiest airport?
  • What is the biggest airline in Europe?
  • Which European country has the most airline capacity?
  • Which regions are most visited?
  • And more.
Data is sourced from OAG's Schedules Analyser; a cutting-edge platform for airline schedule analysis. 

 

Airline Capacity in Europe | September 2025

 

How much airline capacity is there in Europe This Month?

  • Overall capacity in the European market grew by 3.3% vs September 2024 to 163m.
  • International capacity grew by 4.4%, whilst domestic capacity reduced by 1.1% vs September 2024.
  • Low cost carriers' capacity grew by 4.1% vs last year, whilst mainline carriers' capacity grew by 2.8% and continues to represent 58% of the market.

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

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European Countries' Airline Capacity | September 2025

 

Which European Country Has The Most Airline Capacity (Domestic + International)?

  • Spain and the UK are the largest capacity markets in Europe, with 17.1m and 16.7m seats respectively. Capacity in both countries increased by 1.7% and 0.4% respectively vs September 2024. 
  • Capacity grew at the fastest rate in Türkiye by 12.2%, adding an additional 1.5m seats.

Which European Country Has THE Most DOMESTIC Airline Capacity?

 

  • Türkiye and Spain are the largest domestic markets, with 5.3m seats and 5.1m seats respectively, despite a 2.3% reduction in domestic capacity in Spain vs last year.
  • Percentage wise capacity reduced most within the Top 10 countries again in the UK, declining by 9.6% this month. This represents 221,500 fewer seats vs September 2024. 

Top Ten Busiest Airports by Departing Seats in Europe | September 2025

 

Which is the Busiest Airport in Europe?

  • Istanbul remains the busiest airport in Europe, growing by 6.5% to 4.5m seats.  A close second, Heathrow declined by 0.6% to 4.4m seats.
  • Strongest growth in the Top 10 airports comes from Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen where carriers have increased capacity by 24.9% year on year. This escalates SAW into the Top 10 airports and displaces London Gatwick, where capacity reduced by 4% in September 2025.
  • Busiest Airports in the World - data on the busiest global airports | View Now

Airline Capacity By European Region | September 2025

Which Region of Europe Has Most AIRLINE Capacity?

  • 73% of capacity is from or within Western Europe, growing by 2.8% vs last year to 119.1m seats.
  • Capacity in Eastern/Central Europe continues to grow at a faster rate of 4%, to 21.3m seats.

Where do flights from Europe go?

  • The largest international market is for travel within Europe, with 88m seats, increasing year on year by 3.2m seats and making up 67% share of the market in September 2025.
  • The second largest international market is North America, with 11.7m seats, an increase in capacity of 2% vs last year. Boosted by strong demand for US travellers to Europe. 
  • Travel to/from the Middle East grew at the fastest rate this month by 10.8% vs last year to 10.2m seats, adding 993,000 seats vs September 2024.
  • Busiest Routes Right Now > the world's busiest airline routes | View Now

Top Ten Airlines in Europe (Departing seats, one-way) | September 2025

 

Which is the biggest airline in Europe?

  • Ryanair is the largest carrier within Europe, with 19.8m seats, an increase of 1.3% vs last year.  The carrier is operating 10.1m more seats than easyJet, the second largest carrier.
  • Turkish LCC, Pegasus continued to record the strongest growth amongst the Top 10 European airlines this month, with a year on year increase of 19.1%.

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