Low-cost carrier market worldwide - statistics & facts

Over the recent years, low-cost carriers (LCCs) demonstrated a strong market performance, adding a crucial market value in the aviation industry and satisfying customers’ preferences. LCCs’ business innovation to achieve high efficiency in terms of passenger load factor, competitive cost reduction, and organizational structure fulfilled the market demand while creating distinctly affordable market possibilities for millions of travelers with a constrained budget. Since 2017, LCCs have accounted for approximately one-third of the global air travel industry. Besides, the low-cost travel market size is forecasted to exceed 254 billion U.S. dollars by 2027. This steady market expansion is mainly driven by increasing air passenger traffic and efficiency-enhancing measures taken by budget airlines.

Global Low-cost carrier markets

On the regional distribution, the market share of low-cost carriers in South East Asia was the largest compared to the other regions, holding over half of the market share as of March 2022. Meanwhile, the North American market remained rather stagnant due to the presence of the more established major airlines like American Airlines, United Airlines, and Delta Air Lines in the region. On the other hand, the LCC market in Europe was more dynamic and accounted for 45 percent of the European aviation market. The LCCs were primarily located in Western Europe prior to the expansion of the Eurozone and the growing mobilization within the union; eventually, LCCs started performing in Central and Eastern Europe as well. Particularly, Wizz Air, a Hungarian low-cost carrier, holds a significant position among LCCs in Europe. In 2022, the airline generated 1.7 billion euros in revenue and booked 27.1 million passengers.

What are the leading LCCs in the world?

The leading two budget airlines worldwide, Southwest Airlines and Ryanair, transported approximately 127 million and 97 million passengers in 2022, respectively. Since 2010, Irish-based Ryanair has increased its annual revenue progressively, despite the coronavirus pandemic, from 3.6 billion euros in 2010 to 10.8 billion euros in 2023. Southwest Airlines, headquartered in Dallas, generated a revenue that surpasses Ryanair’s operating revenue by more than twofold. Although Ryanair and Southwest Airlines are market leaders in terms of size, they are not among the most punctual low-cost carriers worldwide. The German low-cost carrier, Eurowings, was the most punctual airline in 2022, with 95.26 percent of on-time performance. That year, Eurowings had 1.86 billion euros in revenue.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.
Published by Statista Research Department, Dec 18, 2023

Key insights

Scheduled passengers worldwide
3.8bn
Total ancillary revenue
102.8bn USD
LCCs' worldwide market share
35%
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Editor’s Picks Current statistics on this topic

Number of scheduled passengers boarded by the global airline industry from 2004 to 2022 (in millions)

Passenger Air Transport

Global air traffic - scheduled passengers 2004-2022

Annual revenue of Ryanair from 2010 to 2023 (in million euros)

Passenger Air Transport

Ryanair: annual revenue 2010-2023

Number of passengers traveling with Ryanair from 2011 to 2023 (in millions)

Passenger Air Transport

Number of passengers carried by Ryanair 2011-2023

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Overview

3

Overview

Segments

3

Segments

Airlines

3

Airlines

Regional focus: Europe

6

Regional focus: Europe

Regional focus: Americas

6

Regional focus: Americas

Regional focus: Asia Pacific

5

Regional focus: Asia Pacific

Further reports

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easyJet
easyJet
JetBlue Airways
JetBlue Airways
Low-cost carrier market in the United States
Low-cost carrier market in the United States
Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines
Ryanair
Ryanair

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