Europe's low cost airline growth: independents vs budget brands of legacies
Air France-KLM's Transavia has grown its capacity relative to 2019 faster than Vueling and Eurowings, which are the other low cost brands of the three big legacy groups in Europe.
Moreover, Transavia's growth has outpaced that of all the leading independent low cost airlines in Europe. In 2022 it flew 127% of its 2019 capacity, a higher percentage than all of the others.
Nevertheless, Europe's three leading independent LCC groups - Ryanair, easyJet and Wizz Air - remain significantly larger by absolute seat numbers than the legacy group low cost subsidiaries.
Furthermore, their collective growth compared with 2019 has been stronger, reaching 98% of 2019 capacity in 2022 versus 90% for the legacy subsidiaries in aggregate. Both categories of LCC outpaced the total European market, which reached 82% last year.
This pattern is set to continue in 1H2023, with the three leading independent LCCs and the three low cost subsidiaries of the legacy groups scheduling more than 100% of their 1H2019 capacity (with the independents still outpacing the subsidiaries), while the total Europe market is projected at 91%.
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