Europe's aviation market

European aviation at a glance

• Busiest airport: Istanbul
• Top airline: Ryanair
• Country with most international airline capacity: UK and Spain

Airline capacity in Europe

How much airline capacity is there in Europe this month?

• Overall airline capacity in Europe rose by 1.7% in April 2026 compared to the same month last year, reaching 145.8 million seats.
• International capacity increased by 1.8%, while domestic capacity rose by 1.4% compared to April 2025.
• Low-cost carrier capacity grew by 3.9% year-on-year, while mainline carrier capacity rose by 0.4% and now 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 European markets by capacity, with 16.4 million and 15.4 million seats respectively in April 2026. Compared to April 2025, capacity grew by 4.7% in Spain and 2.1% in the UK.
• Capacity grew at the fastest rate in Poland by 16.5%, with an additional 472k seats.
  

Which European country has most domestic airline capacity?

• Spain and Türkiye are the largest domestic markets, with 5m seats and 4.7m seats respectively in April 2026. Capacity growth in Türkiye has slowed compared to recent months, rising by 1.7% year-on-year.
• The UK recorded the fastest domestic capacity growth, up 5.7% year-on-year with an additional 117,000 seats.
  

Top 10 busiest airports in Europe (departing seats)

Which is the busiest airport in Europe?

• Istanbul is the busiest airport in Europe in April 2026 with 4.28m seats, an increase of 2.2% year-on-year.
• London Heathrow is a close second, with capacity down 2.7% year-on-year to 4.26 million seats in April 2026, partly due to Easter falling earlier this year.
• Of those in the Top 10 airports, Madrid and Barcelona again recorded the strongest growth, with capacity up 5.9% and 5.1% year-on-year respectively.
  
• 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 is from or within Western Europe, growing by 1.8% vs last year to 107.2m seats.
• Capacity in Eastern/Central Europe continues to grow at a faster rate of 9.1%, to 18.8m seats.