Low-cost airlines now account for more than a third of global capacity

09-09-23

Low-cost airlines account for 2 billion seats globally, accounting for 36 per cent of the world's scheduled seats according to a study by travel platform Mabrian Technologies, which analyses the expansion of low-cost air connectivity. 

The United States, India, Spain, China and Italy are the countries with the most low-cost seats scheduled for 2023. The study comprises an analysis of the airline schedules of 698 airlines worldwide in both scheduled and low-cost segments. The more than 2 billion seats are offered by 173 airlines in the current year. By volume of seats offered, the ranking of the largest low-cost airlines is made up of Southwest, Ryanair, Indigo, Easyjet and Spirit.

In Europe, the countries that receive the most low-cost flights, and are therefore most dependent on these low-cost airlines, are Latvia, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Belgium, Slovakia, Italy, Hungary and Macedonia. In all these countries, the share of low-cost flights exceeds 70%. In Asia, the main countries where low-cost flights predominate are India, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan with a low-cost share of over 60% of all flights. In Africa, the countries receiving the most low-cost flights are Liberia, Togo, Sierra Leone, Gambia and Gabon, with the percentage of low-cost seats ranging from 52% to 64.25%.

In the Pacific, the country that receives the most low-cost seats is Australia, with 46%, while in countries such as New Zealand, Palau and Fiji, the percentage of low-cost airlines is practically residual.

In North America, Mexico stands out as the country with a percentage of low-cost seats that exceeds 60%. Meanwhile, the United States, despite being the country with the highest total volume of low-cost seats, registers a share of only 33.7% of these flights. In the Caribbean and Central America, only Puerto Rico exceeds a level of 50% of low-cost seats. Jamaica, Dominican Republic and Haiti are above 40%.

In South America, Brazil is the country with the highest predominance of low-cost connectivity with a 60% share. Chile, second in the ranking, has a share below 40%. The report points out that the penetration of low-cost airlines in destinations is part of the tourism structure and the tourism development model, but also of the mobility patterns of its inhabitants. Low-cost connectivity also plays an important role in increasing interconnectivity in regions where other modes of transport are limited. Indeed, apart from holiday reasons, visiting family and friends and also business trips generate a lot of demand for low-cost connectivity.