Europe's Aviation Market

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

Here's a quick overview of the top statistics from the European aviation market:

• Busiest airport: Istanbul 
• Top airline: Ryanair
• Country with most international airline capacity: Spain and the UK
• Most visited world region from Europe (exc Europe): Middle East
  

How much airline capacity is there in Europe This Month?

• Overall capacity in the European market grew by 3.3% vs February 2025 to 114.5m.
• International capacity grew by 4.6%, whilst domestic capacity contracted by 1.3% vs February 2025.
• Low-cost carriers increased capacity by 3.3% year-on-year, while mainline carriers grew by 3.2% and now account for 63% of total market capacity.
  

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

Which is the Busiest Airport in Europe?

• London Heathrow is the busiest airport in Europe in February 2026 with 3.9m seats, despite a marginal decrease in capacity of 0.1% vs last year.
• A close second is Istanbul, which grew by 2.9% year-on-year to 3.7m seats.
• Strongest percentage growth in the Top 10 airports comes again from Istanbul Sabiha, where carriers have increased capacity by 10.2% year on year.
  
  
• READY TO VIEW: The World's Busiest Airports of 2025
  

Which is the biggest airline in Europe?

• Ryanair is the largest carrier within Europe in February 2026, with 13.9m seats, an increase of 5.5% vs last year. easyJet is the second busiest carrier with 6.8m seats, increasing capacity by only 1.1% vs last year.
• SAS Scandinavian Airlines has recorded the largest year-on-year capacity growth, up 15.3% to 2.85m seats. Wizz Air and Turkish low-cost carrier Pegasus follow, with capacity increases of 12.8% and 9.4% respectively.