European narrowbody aircraft fleet: the unstoppable rise of independent LCCs

Europe's six independent LCCs have 29% of all narrowbodies based in Europe, compared with 25% five years ago and 9% two decades ago.

Ryanair, easyJet, Wizz Air, Jet2.com, Pegasus Airlines and Norwegian have a combined narrowbody fleet of 1,550 aircraft. Of these, 1,215 are with the top three (Ryanair, easyJet, Wizz Air) - more than the combined narrowbody fleet of Lufthansa Group, IAG and Air France-KLM.

The low-cost brands of the three major European legacy airline groups have an aggregate narrowbody fleet of only 435 aircraft.

The independent LCCs have 1,067 outstanding narrowbodies between them, compared with 263 for the big three legacy groups (of which 103 are earmarked for their low-cost brands). The expansion of the independent LCCs' share of Europe's narrowbody fleet looks unstoppable.