Europe's Aviation Market

Monthly Airline Data Updates for the European Market

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

 

How much airline capacity is there in Europe This Month?

  • Overall capacity in the European market grew by 5.0%, compared to April 2024, to 116.9 million seats.
  • International capacity, which grew by 6.9%, represents 79% share of the European market.
  • The domestic market, which accounts for the remaining 21% of the market, declined by 1.6% compared last year.

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European Countries' Airline Capacity | April 2025

 

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

  • Spain is the largest market in terms of capacity with 15.7m seats. The market is showing the largest growth in seats in the top 10 markets, up 667,000 seats which is 4.4% more than April 2024.
  • Portugal is the market showing the fastest growth rate in the top 10 markets, up 7.7% which is 265,000 more seats than April 2024.
  • Norway is the only market in the top 10 showing a decline this month, down 3.8%, which is 123,000 less seats than last year.

Which European Country Has THE Most DOMESTIC Airline Capacity?

 

  • Spain and Türkiye are the largest domestic markets in Europe, with 4.85m and 4.66m seats respectively.
  • Greece is the market showing the fastest growth rate in the top 10 markets, up 9.0% which is 88,000 more seats than April 2024.
  • Of the Top 10 domestic markets in Europe, six markets are in decline compared to April last year with Sweden showing the largest rate of decline, down 16.6%, followed by Norway which is down 7.3%. The other four markets down this month are UK, Spain, France and Türkiye.

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

 

Which is the Busiest Airport in Europe?

  • Heathrow remains the busiest airport in Europe with 4.38m seats (+2.9%), followed by Istanbul which is 180,000 seats behind Heathrow with seat capacity at the Turkish airport at 4.2m seats (+5.2%) for the month.
  • Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen is the airport showing the fastest growth rate in the top 10 airports, up 11.2% which is 225,000 more seats than April 2024.
  • Madrid Airport is showing the slowest growth rate in the top 10 airports, up only 0.7% on last year.

  • Busiest Airports in the World - data on the busiest global airports | View Now

Airline Capacity By European Region | April 2025

Which Region of Europe Has Most AIRLINE Capacity?

  • 90% of European capacity is from or within Western Europe, which is showing growth of 4.1% vs last year to 105.4m seats.
  • The remaining 10% of the European market is capacity from or within Eastern/Central Europe, this market is up 14.3% this April compared to last year.

Where do flights from Europe go?

  • Within Europe, capacity increased by 6.1% to 74.2m seats, adding 4.3m seats and making up 80% share of the international market.
  • Capacity to North America is showing the slowest rate of growth at 3.5%, and the Middle East market is showing the fastest growth rate at 14.6%.
  • Busiest Routes Right Now > the world's busiest airline routes | View Now

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

 

Which is the biggest airline in Europe?

  • Ryanair is the largest carrier within Europe, with 19.2m seats, a 4.4% increase vs last year.  It has 10.2m more seats than easyJet, the second largest carrier, this makes Ryanair over twice the size of easyjet based on April 2025 seat capacities.
    Turkish based LCC, Pegasus continued to record the strongest growth amongst the Top 10 European airlines this month, with a year on year increase of 20%. Followed by Wizz Air with an increase of 12.5% in capacity. 
    Deutsche Lufthansa AG is the airline showing the largest rate of  decline in the top 10 airlines, down 3.5% which is 202,000 less seats than April 2024.

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