List of largest airlines in Europe
The following is a list of the largest airlines in Europe by total scheduled and chartered passengers, in millions. The list includes companies classified as European by the IATA. The order of the chart and its completion goes only up to the year 2023.
| Country | Airline/holding | '24 | '23 | '22 | '21 | '20 | '19 | '18 | '17 | '16 | '15 | '14 | '13 | '12 | '11 | '10 | '09 | '08 | '07 | '06 | Fleet | Destinations | Sources | Alliance | Association | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|  Ireland  Malta  Poland  United Kingdom | Ryanair[a] | 197.2 | 181.74 | 160.4 | 72.4 | 52.01 | 152.4 | 139.2 | 128.77 | 116.8 | 101.4 | 86.4 | 81.40 | 79.61 | 76.4 | 72.7 | 65.3 | 57.7 | 49.0 | 40.5 | 430 | 186 | [1] | A4E | |
|  Germany  Austria .svg.png) Belgium .svg.png) Switzerland | Lufthansa Group[b] | 131.3 | 122.54 | 101.78 | 46.95 | 36.35 | 145.20 | 141.94 | 130.04 | 109.67 | 107.68 | 105.99 | 104.59 | 103.59 | 100.60 | 92.69 | 76.54 | 70.54 | 63.10 | 68.06 | 728 | 321 | [2] | Star Alliance | A4E IATA | 
|  United Kingdom  Ireland  Spain | International Airlines Group[c] | 122.05 | 115.6 | 94.73 | 38.86 | 31.3 | 118.3 | 112.92 | 104.83 | 100.7 | 94.9 | 77.3 | 67.22 | 54.6 | 51.7 | 50.6 | 53.3 | 59.8 | 61.7 | 63.2 | 520 | 248 | [3] | oneworld | A4E ERA IATA | 
|  France  Netherlands | Air France-KLM[d] | 97.96 | 93.6 | 83.32 | 44.67 | 34.1 | 104.2 | 101.45 | 98.72 | 93.4 | 89.8 | 87.4 | 78.44 | 77.45 | 75.8 | 70.8 | 71.4 | 73.8 | 74.8 | 73.5 | 574 | 231 | [4] [5] | SkyTeam | A4E ERA IATA | 
|  United Kingdom  Austria .svg.png) Switzerland | EasyJet[e] | 86.51 | 82.8 | 69.7 | 20.4 | 16.09 | 103.3 | 88.5 | 81.63 | 74.5 | 69.9 | 65.3 | 61.33 | 59.21 | 55.5 | 49.7 | 46.1 | 44.6 | 38.2 | 33.0 | 300 | 136 | [6] [7] [8] | A4E | |
|  Turkey | Turkish Airlines[f] | 85.17 | 83.39 | 71.82 | 44.8 | 27.95 | 74.28 | 75.16 | 68.61 | 62.8 | 61.2 | 54.8 | 48.3 | 39.0 | 32.6 | 29.1 | 25.1 | 22.6 | 19.6 | 16.9 | 492 | 352 | [9] [10] | Star Alliance | AIRE IATA | 
|  Hungary  Poland  United Kingdom  Malta  United Arab Emirates | Wizz Air[g] | 62.69 | 60.31 | 45.66 | 21.71 | 16.67 | 39.80 | 33.81 | 28.27 | 22.78 | 19.2 | 15.8 | 13.5 | 12.0 | 11.2 | 9.6 | 7.8 | 5.8 | 4.2 | 3.0 | 168 | 144 | [11][12] | ||
|  Russia | Aeroflot Group[h] | 55.3 | 47.3 | 40.7 | 45.81 | 30.16 | 60.7 | 55.7 | 50.13 | 43.4 | 39.4 | 34.7 | 31.4 | 27.5 | 16.4 | 14.1 | 11.1 | 11.6 | 10.2 | 8.7 | 336 | 189 | [13] [14] [15] | IATA | |
|  Turkey | Pegasus Airlines | 37.48 | 31.93 | 26.94 | 20.16 | 14.71 | 30.76 | 29.97 | 27.82 | 24.14 | 22.34 | 19.74 | 16.82 | 13.58 | 11.3 | 8.6 | 5.9 | 4.4 | - | 3.1 | 112 | 139 | [16] [17] [18] [19] | IATA | |
|  Norway  Sweden | Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA[i] | 26.43 | 20.62 | 17.84 | 6.19 | 6.87 | 36.20 | 37.34 | 33.15 | 29.3 | 25.8 | 24.0 | 20.71 | 17.69 | 15.7 | 13.0 | 10.8 | 9.1 | 6.9 | 5.1 | 88 | 130 | [20] [21] [22] | A4E | |
|  Sweden  Norway  Denmark  Ireland | SAS Group[j] | 25.2 | 21.1 | 17.87 | 10.19 | 8.81 | 29.8 | 30.0 | 28.37 | 29.4 | 27.1 | 27.3 | 25.56 | 25.32 | 24.7 | 23.1 | 22.8 | 27.0 | 27.2 | 26.9 | 134 | 124 | [23] [24] | SkyTeam | ERA IATA | 
|  Germany .svg.png) Belgium  Netherlands  Sweden  United Kingdom | TUI Group[k] | 20.3 | 19 | 16.7 | 2.02 | 2.02 | 26.0 | 33.7 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 133 | - | [25][26][27] | A4E IATA | ||||||
|  Italy | ITA Airways | 18 | 15 | 10.1 | 1.32 | — | 95 | 70 | [28] | IATA | |||||||||||||||
|  United Kingdom | Jet2.com | 17.72 | 16.57 | 15.53 | 3.17 | 2.85 | 14.39 | 12.09 | 9.64 | 6.67 | 5.85 | 6.0 | 5.5 | 4.78 | 4.2 | 3.3 | 3.1 | 3.4 | 3.9 | 2.8 | 90 | 50 | [29][30][31] | A4E | |
|  Greece | Aegean Airlines[l] | 16.33 | 15.46 | 12.5 | 7.19 | 5.17 | 14.99 | 13.97 | 13.22 | 12.46 | 11.6 | 10.2 | 8.8 | 8.9 | 9.9 | 10.1 | 10.2 | 11.3 | 11.1 | 10.1/ | 67 | 153 | [32] [33] | Star Alliance | A4E IATA | 
| .svg.png) Portugal | TAP Air Portugal[m] | 16.1 | 15.9 | 13.76 | 5.83 | 4.66 | 17.05 | 15.89 | 14.27 | 11.72 | 11.3 | 11.4 | 10.7 | 10.2 | 9.8 | 9.1 | 8.4 | 8.7 | 7.9 | 6.9 | 110 | 88 | [34] | Star Alliance | A4E ERA IATA | 
|  Turkey | SunExpress | 15 | 12.6 | 10.7 | 8.7 | 7.3 | 6.7 | 7.7 | 7.7 | 6.7 | 5.6 | 4.2 | 3.0 | 2.7 | 68 | 92 | IATA | ||||||||
|  Russia | S7 Airlines[n] | 12.9 | 15.9 | 16.03 | 17.83 | 12.35 | 17.9 | 15.96 | 14.25 | 13.15 | 10.6 | 10.1 | 9.3 | 8.3 | 5.1 | 4.8 | 5.6 | 5.9 | 5.7 | 4.9 | 100 | 121 | [35][36] | IATA | |
|  Spain | Air Europa | 12 | 11.74 | 10.03 | 5.04 | 4.26 | 13.13 | 11.84 | 10.6 | 10.6 | 10.2 | 8.1 | 9.0 | 8.1 | 8.7 | 8.9 | 9.0 | 9.7 | 9.9 | 8.1 | 59 | 44 | [37][38][39][40] | SkyTeam | IATA | 
|  Finland | Finnair | 11.66 | 10.98 | 9.10 | 2.85 | 3.48 | 14.65 | 13.28 | 11.90 | 10.87 | 10.2 | 9.6 | 9.27 | 8.77 | 8.0 | 7.1 | 7.4 | 8.3 | 8.7 | 8.8 | 73 | 103 | [41][42] | oneworld | A4E IATA | 
|  Spain | Volotea | 11.4 | 10.4 | 9.4 | 6.0 | 3.8 | 7.6 | 6.57 | 4.82 | 4.3 | 2.5 | 1.8 | 1.4 | — | 23 | 60 | [43][44] | A4E IATA | |||||||
|  Poland | LOT Polish Airlines[o] | 10.7 | 10.03 | 9.3 | 4.2 | 3.59 | 11.79 | 10.61 | 8.5 | 6.89 | 5.58 | 6.1 | 5.9 | 6.3 | 5.8 | 5.5 | 5.0 | 4.0 | 4.3 | 3.71 | 91 | 120 | [45][46][47] | Star Alliance | AIRE IATA | 
|  Russia | Ural Airlines | 9.52 | 9.41 | 8.49 | 9.20 | 5.60 | 9.62 | 9.0 | 8.0 | 6.47 | 5.4 | 5.1 | 4.4 | 3.5 | 2.5 | 1.8 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 47 | 66 | [48][49] | IATA | |
|  Kazakhstan | Air Astana[p] | 8.1 | 7.4 | 6.62 | 3.70 | 5.12 | 4.32 | 4.19 | 3.75 | 3.86 | 3.77 | 3.68 | 3.24 | 3.06 | 2.57 | 2.20 | 2.30 | 2.13 | 1.47 | 34 | 69 | [50] | IATA | ||
|  Germany | Condor | 8 | 7.0 | 9.4 | Part of Thomas Cook Group Airlines | IATA | |||||||||||||||||||
|  Latvia | AirBaltic | 8.3 | 7.03 | 3.44 | 1.6 | 1.36 | 5.05 | 4.14 | 3.52 | 2.89 | 2.6 | 2.8 | 2.95 | 3.08 | 3.4 | 3.2 | 2.8 | - | 2.0 | 1.4 | 50 | 60 | [51][52] | A4E IATA | |
|  Czech Republic  Hungary  Poland  Slovakia | Smartwings[q] | 8.3 | 5.2 | 2.53 | 1.8 | 9.6 | 8.8 | 8.17 | 7.3 | 6.57 | - | - | - | - | Part of Icelandair Group | - | - | 57 | ? | [53][54][55][56] | SkyTeam | A4E IATA | |||
|  Russia | UTair Aviation | 6.40 | 6.06 | 5.54 | 7.12 | 4.90 | 8.09 | 7.65 | 7.3 | 6.65 | 8.8 | 11.2 | 10.4 | 7.8 | 5.8 | 5.2 | 3.9 | 3.23 | 2.93 | 2.42 | 66 | 117 | [57][58] | IATA | |
|  United Kingdom | Virgin Atlantic | 5.6 | 5.3 | 4.4 | 1.10 | 1.19 | 5.87 | 5.4 | 5.20 | 5.20 | 5.94 | 6.2 | 5.5 | 5.4 | 5.3 | 5.3 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.1 | 4.6 | 40 | 37 | [59][60] | SkyTeam | IATA | 
|  Spain | Binter Canarias[r] | 5.6 | 5.00 | 4.43 | 3.14 | 2.27 | 4.0 | 3.6 | 3.4 | 2.7 | 2.65 | 2.6 | 2.1 | 2.5 | 2.6 | 2.6 | 2.63 | 2.9 | 3.02 | 3.0 | [61][62] | ERA IATA | |||
|  Greece | Sky Express | 5 | 4.3 | 3.30 | 1.72 | 1.20 | 1.00 | 0.50 | 0.17 | 0.07 | — | 17 | 43 | [63] [64] | ERA | ||||||||||
|  Iceland | Icelandair Group[s] | 4.67 | 4.29 | 3.66 | 1.46 | 0.89 | 4.41 | 4.14 | 4.05 | 3.67 | 3.0 | 2.9 | 2.6 | 2.4 | 1.8 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 1.5 | 1.6 | 1.5 | 47 | 36 | [65][66] | A4E IATA | |
|  Serbia | Air Serbia | 4.44 | 4.19 | 2.75 | 1.59 | 0.87 | 2.81 | 2.48 | 2.61 | 2.62 | 2.55 | 2.3 | - | 1.3 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 34 | 81 | [67][68][69][70][71] | ERA IATA | |
|  Russia | Nordwind Airlines | 4.3 | 5.93 | 2.94 | 5.54 | 4.92 | 3.54 | 1.79 | 2.67 | 4.46 | 3.59 | 2.19 | 1.72 | 1.19 | 0.56 | 0.02 | — | 26 | 97 | [72] | IATA | ||||
|  Russia | Smartavia | 3.80 | 3.24 | 3.62 | 1.64 | 2.03 | 1.19 | 1.09 | 0.96 | 0.73 | 0.76 | 0.76 | 0.81 | 1.47 | 1.4 | Part of Aeroflot Group | 15 | 67 | [73] | IATA | |||||
|  Norway | Widerøe | 3.80 | 3.43 | 3.28 | 2.45 | 1.77 | 3.00 | [74][75] | ERA IATA | ||||||||||||||||
|  Poland | Enter Air | 3.1 | 2.2 | 1.72 | 1.12 | 1.17 | 1.11 | 1.17 | - | - | - | - | - | 1.2 | — | 19 | 74 | [76] | |||||||
|  Azerbaijan | Azerbaijan Airlines | 2.9 | 2.25 | 0.87 | 0.57 | 2.60 | 1.89 | 2.29 | 1.4 | 1.0 | 32 | 57 | [77][78] | IATA | |||||||||||
|  Russia | Red Wings Airlines | 2.72 | 2.21 | 3.00 | 1.54 | 3.07 | 2.62 | 1.62 | 0.92 | 1.04 | 0.92 | 0.35 | 0.82 | 0.78 | 0.88 | - | - | - | - | 18 | 20 | [79][80] | |||
|  Luxembourg | Luxair[t] | 2.5 | 2.05 | 1.08 | 0.66 | 2.15 | 2.13 | 1.93 | 1.84 | 1.81 | 1.68 | 1.5 | 1.4 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 17 | 59 | [81][82] | A4E ERA IATA | |||
|  Ukraine  Malta | SkyUp[u] | 2.5 | 1.55 | 1.08 | 2.57 | 1.25 | 1.71 | 0.44 | — | 14 | 64 | [83] [84] | |||||||||||||
| .svg.png) Portugal | SATA Group[v] | 2.4 | 1.92 | 1.28 | 0.67 | 1.71 | 0.89 | 0.99 | 0.86 | [85] | ERA IATA | ||||||||||||||
|  Romania | TAROM | 2.3 | 1.99 | 1.5 | 0.90 | 3.3 | 2.80 | 2.4 | 2.4 | 2.4 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 1.7 | 2.0 | 1.9 | 1.5 | 25 | 50 | [86][87] | SkyTeam | IATA | |
|  Russia | Azimuth | 2.3 | 1.9 | 2.09 | 1.22 | 1.25 | 0.67 | 0.07 | — | 11 | 31 | [88][89] | |||||||||||||
|  Russia | Azur Air | 2.3 | 1.9 | 2.1 | 3.73 | 1.93 | 5.79 | 4.24 | 3.75 | 2.34 | 2.35 | 0.21 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 27 | [90][91][92] | |||
|  Belarus | Belavia | 1.6 | 4.00 | 3.39 | 3.0 | 2.49 | 2.09 | 1.97 | 1.6 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 29 | 48 | [93] [94] | IATA | |||||||||
|  Croatia | Croatia Airlines | 1.73 | 1.45 | 0.79 | 0.62 | 2.18 | 2.17 | 2.13 | 1.94 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 1.9 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 1.7 | 1.5 | 13 | 40 | [95][96][97][98] | Star Alliance | ERA IATA | ||
|  Moldova  Romania | HiSky | 1.6 | 0.8 | 0.1 | — | [99][100] | |||||||||||||||||||
|  Malta | Air Malta | 1.7 | 1.5 | 1.60 | 1.73 | 1.74 | 1.76 | 1.66 | 1.68 | 1.68 | 1.64 | 1.74 | 1.63 | 1.61 | 8 | 37 | [101][102] | ERA IATA | |||||||
|  Iceland | PLAY | 1.65 | 1.52 | 0.79 | 0.10 | — | 10 | 41 | [103][104] | ||||||||||||||||
|  Norway | Norse Atlantic Airways | 1.5 | 0.98 | 0.30 | — | 12 | 11 | [105] | |||||||||||||||||
|  Russia | Aurora Group[w] | 1.35 | 1.16 | 1.07 | Part of Aeroflot Group | — | [106][107] | ||||||||||||||||||
|  Russia | NordStar | 1.26 | 1.08 | 1.16 | 0.88 | 1.28 | 1.42 | 1.4 | 1.29 | 1.13 | 1.1 | 1.24 | 1.16 | 0.77 | 0.54 | - | — | 15 | 50 | [108] [109] | IATA | ||||
|  United Kingdom | Loganair | 1.36 | 1.23 | 1.29 | 0.73 | 0.35 | 0.95 | 0.76 | 0.77 | 0.75 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 34 | 44 | [110] | ERA | |
|  Russia | Yamal Airlines | 1.26 | 0.70 | 1.75 | 1.97 | 1.79 | 1.45 | 1.43 | 1.45 | 1.3 | 0.91 | 0.57 | 0.5 | 36 | 38 | [111] | |||||||||
|  Russia | IrAero | 1.14 | 0.98 | 0.93 | 0.95 | 0.27 | 0.27 | [112][113] | |||||||||||||||||
|  Russia | Ikar | 1.1 | 1.72 | 0.76 | 2.16 | 2.02 | 1.38 | 0.99 | 1.08 | 1.24 | 0.28 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 10 | 29 | [114] | ||||
|  Russia | I-Fly | 1.13 | 0.75 | 0.4 | 0.61 | 0.97 | 1.05 | 0.63 | 0.41 | 0.38 | - | - | - | - | 10 | 30 | [115] | ||||||||
|  Bulgaria | Bulgaria Air | 0.73 | 0.63 | 0.57 | 0.51 | 1.40 | 1.27 | 1.24 | 1.25 | 1.27 | 1.40 | 1.20 | 1.12 | 10 | 26 | [116][117] | IATA | ||||||||
|  Ukraine | Windrose | 1.44 | 1.30 | 12 | 19 | [118] | |||||||||||||||||||
|  Ukraine | Ukraine International Airlines | - | - | - | 2.79 | 1.73 | 7.97 | 8.08 | 6.93 | 6.0 | 4.8 | 3.8 | 4.5 | 2.8 | 1.9 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 1.7 | 0.3 | 42 | 80 | [119] [120] [121] | IATA | ||
Notes
- ^ Includes Lauda Europe, Ryanair UK, Malta Air and Buzz.
- ^ Includes Lufthansa (inc. Lufthansa Regional (inc. Lufthansa CityLine and Air Dolomiti)), Eurowings, Swiss International Air Lines (inc. Edelweiss Air), Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines.
- ^ Includes British Airways (inc. BA CityFlyer), Iberia (inc. Air Nostrum and Iberia Express), Vueling Airlines, Level and Aer Lingus (inc. Aer Lingus Regional).
- ^ Includes Air France (inc. Air France Hop and Transavia France) and KLM (inc. KLM cityhopper, and Transavia).
- ^ Includes EasyJet UK, EasyJet Switzerland, and EasyJet Europe.
- ^ Includes AnadoluJet.
- ^ Includes Wizz Air UK, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi and Wizz Air Malta.
- ^ Includes Rossiya Airlines and Pobeda.
- ^ Includes Norwegian Air Norway and Norwegian Air Sweden.
- ^ Includes Scandinavian Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines Ireland and SAS Link.
- ^ Includes TUI Airways (formerly Thomson Airways), TUI fly Belgium (Jetairfly), TUI fly Germany (TUIfly), TUI fly Netherlands (Arkefly), TUI fly Nordic
- ^ Includes Olympic Air.
- ^ Includes TAP Express.
- ^ Includes Citrus.
- ^ Includes LOT Charters.
- ^ Includes Air Astana and FlyArystan.
- ^ Includes Czech Airlines, SmartWings, Smartwings Hungary, Smartwings Poland, Smartwings Slovakia.
- ^ Includes Canarias Airlines and Naysa Servicios Aéreos
- ^ Includes Icelandair and Air Iceland Connect.
- ^ Includes Luxair Luxembourg Airlines and LuxairTours.
- ^ Includes SkyUp MT.
- ^ Includes Azores Airlines and SATA Air Açores
- ^ Includes Yakutia Airlines, Khabarovsk Airlines, Kamchatka Air Enterprise, Chukotavia, Polar Airlines, Taiga Airlines/Aviashelf.
See also
- List of airlines of Europe
- World's largest airlines
- List of largest airlines in North America
- List of largest airlines in Central America & the Caribbean
- List of largest airlines in Africa
- List of largest airlines in Asia
- List of largest airlines in South America
- List of largest airlines in Oceania
References
Further reading
- "Europe's Top 20 airline groups by passengers 2017; Lufthansa wrests top spot from Ryanair". CAPA Centre for Aviation. 21 January 2018.
- "Europe's top 20 airline groups by passengers 2023: Ryanair's lead is set to endure". CAPA Centre for Aviation. 28 March 2024.