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 | 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 | A4E | ||
 Germany Austria Belgium Switzerland |
Lufthansa Group | 122.5 | 101.77 | 46.9 | 36.35 | 145.2 | 142.3 | 130.04 | 117.4 | 115.2 | 112.5 | 110.4 | 108.9 | 112.0 | 95.1 | 81.2 | 76.4 | 68.8 | 59.1 | 728 | 321 | Star Alliance | A4E IATA | ||
United Kingdom Ireland Spain |
International Airlines Group | 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 | oneworld | A4E ERA IATA | ||
 France Netherlands |
Air France-KLM | 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 | SkyTeam | A4E ERA IATA | ||
| United Kingdom Austria Switzerland |
EasyJet | 89.7 | 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 | A4E | ||
 Turkey |
Turkish Airlines | 85.2 | 83.4 | 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 | Star Alliance | AIRE IATA | |
 Hungary United Kingdom Malta United Arab Emirates |
Wizz Air | 60.3 | 45.6 | 21.7 | 16.67 | 39.8 | 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 | ||||
 Russia |
Aeroflot Group | 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 | IATA | |||
| Turkey |
Pegasus Airlines | 31.93 | 26.94 | 20.16 | 14.71 | 30.76 | 29.97 | 27.82 | 24.14 | 22.3 | 19.7 | 16.8 | 13.6 | 11.3 | 8.6 | 5.9 | 4.4 | - | 3.1 | 94 | 109 | IATA | |||
 Sweden Norway Denmark Ireland |
SAS Group | 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 | SkyTeam | ERA IATA | ||
| Norway Sweden |
Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA | 20.6 | 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 | 64 | 130 | A4E | |||
Germany Belgium Denmark Finland Ireland Netherlands Norway Sweden United Kingdom |
TUI Group | 16.7 | 2.02 | 2.02 | 26.0 | 33.7 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 133 | - | A4E IATA | |||||||||
| United Kingdom |
Jet2.com | 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 | A4E | |||
| Russia |
S7 Airlines | 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 | IATA | |||
 Portugal |
TAP Air Portugal | 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 | Star Alliance | A4E ERA IATA | ||
 Greece |
Aegean Airlines | 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 | Star Alliance | A4E IATA | ||
 Italy |
ITA Airways | 15 | 10.1 | 1.32 | — | 95 | 70 | SkyTeam | IATA | ||||||||||||||||
| Turkey |
SunExpress | 12.6 | 10.7 | 68 | 92 | IATA | |||||||||||||||||||
| Spain |
Air Europa | 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 | SkyTeam | IATA | ||
| Finland |
Finnair | 10.9 | 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 | oneworld | A4E IATA | ||
| Spain |
Volotea | 10.4 | 9.4 | 6.0 | 3.8 | 7.6 | 6.57 | 4.82 | 4.3 | 2.5 | 1.8 | 1.4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 23 | 60 | A4E IATA | ||||
| Poland |
LOT Polish Airlines | 10.03 | 9.3 | 4.2 | 3.59 | 11.79 | 10.61 | 6.89 | 5.58 | 6.1 | 5.9 | 6.3 | 5.8 | 5.5 | 5.0 | 4.0 | 4.3 | 3.7 | - | 91 | 120 | Star Alliance | AIRE IATA | ||
| Russia |
Ural Airlines | 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 | IATA | |||
 Kazakhstan |
Air Astana | 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 | IATA | |||
| Germany |
Condor | 7.0 | IATA | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Russia |
UTair Aviation | 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 | IATA | |||
 Czech Republic Hungary Poland Slovakia |
Smartwings | 5.2 | 2.53 | 1.8 | 9.6 | 8.8 | 8.17 | 7.3 | 6.57 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 57 | ? | SkyTeam | IATA | ||||
| United Kingdom |
Virgin Atlantic | 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 | SkyTeam | IATA | ||
 Uzbekistan |
Uzbekistan Airways | 5.02 | 4.23 | 2.01 | 0.93 | 3.80 | 3.17 | 2.70 | 2.47 | 2.57 | 2.63 | 2.68 | 2.65 | 2.32 | 2.16 | 1.89 | 2.07 | 1.99 | 1.71 | IATA | |||||
| Spain |
Binter Canarias | 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 | IATA | |||||
 Latvia |
AirBaltic | 4.54 | 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 | 32 | 60 | A4E IATA | |||
| Greece |
Sky Express | 5 | 4.3 | 3.30 | 1.72 | 1.20 | 1.00 | 0.50 | 0.17 | 0.07 | — | 17 | 43 | ERA | |||||||||||
 Iceland |
Icelandair Group | 4.7 | 4.3 | 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 | 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 | ERA IATA | ||
| Russia |
Nordwind Airlines | 4.3 | 5.93 | 2.94 | 5.54 | 4.92 | 3.55 | 1.79 | 2.67 | 4.47 | 3.66 | 2.17 | 1.72 | 1.19 | - | - | - | - | 26 | 97 | 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 | - | - | - | - | 15 | 67 | IATA | |||
| Norway |
Widerøe | 3.8 | 3.3 | 3.28 | 2.45 | 1.77 | 3.00 | ERA IATA | |||||||||||||||||
| Poland |
Enter Air | 3.1 | 2.2 | 1.72 | 1.12 | 1.17 | 1.11 | 1.17 | - | - | - | - | - | 1.2 | — | 19 | 74 | ||||||||
 Azerbaijan |
Azerbaijan Airlines | 2.9 | 2.25 | 0.87 | 0.57 | 2.60 | 1.89 | 2.29 | 1.4 | 1.0 | 32 | 57 | 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 | ||||
 Luxembourg |
Luxair | 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 | A4E ERA IATA | ||||
| Portugal |
SATA Group | 2.4 | 1.92 | 1.28 | 0.67 | 1.71 | 0.89 | 0.99 | 0.86 | 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 | SkyTeam | IATA | ||
| Russia |
Azimuth | 2.3 | 1.9 | 2.09 | 1.22 | 1.25 | 0.67 | 0.07 | — | 11 | 31 | ||||||||||||||
| Russia |
Azur Air | 2.1 | 3.73 | 1.93 | 5.79 | 4.24 | 3.75 | 2.34 | 2.35 | 0.21 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 27 | ||||||
 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 | 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 | Star Alliance | ERA IATA | |||
 Moldova Romania |
HiSky | 1.6 | 0.8 | 0.1 | — | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Malta |
Air Malta | 1.7 | 1.5 | 1.73 | 1.74 | 1.76 | 1.66 | 1.68 | 1.68 | 1.64 | 1.74 | 1.63 | 1.61 | 8 | 37 | ERA IATA | |||||||||
 Ukraine Malta |
SkyUp | 1.55 | 1.08 | 2.57 | 1.25 | 1.71 | 0.44 | — | 14 | 64 | |||||||||||||||
| Iceland |
PLAY | 1.52 | 0.79 | 0.10 | — | 10 | 41 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Russia |
Aurora | 1.35 | 1.16 | 1.07 | Part of Aeroflot Group | — | |||||||||||||||||||
| 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 | IATA | |||||
| United Kingdom |
Loganair | 1.23 | 1.29 | 0.73 | 0.35 | 0.95 | 0.76 | 0.77 | 0.75 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 34 | 44 | ERA | |||
| Russia |
IrAero | 1.14 | 0.98 | 0.93 | 0.95 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Russia |
Ikar | 1.1 | 1.72 | 0.76 | 2.16 | 2.02 | 1.38 | 0.99 | 1.08 | 1.24 | 0.28 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 10 | 29 | |||||
| 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 | ||||||||||
| Russia |
I-Fly | 1.13 | 0.75 | 0.4 | 0.61 | 0.97 | 1.05 | 0.63 | 0.41 | 0.38 | - | - | - | - | 10 | 30 | |||||||||
| Norway |
Norse Atlantic Airways | 0.98 | 0.30 | — | 12 | 11 | |||||||||||||||||||
 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 | IATA | |||||||||
| Ukraine |
Windrose | 1.44 | 1.30 | 12 | 19 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 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 | 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 Scandinavian Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines Ireland and SAS Link.
- Includes Norwegian Air Norway and Norwegian Air Sweden.
- Includes Arkefly (TUI fly Netherlands), Jetairfly (TUI fly Belgium), TUIfly (TUI fly Deutschlandand), TUI fly Nordic, Thomson Airways and Corsair International.
- Includes Citrus.
- Includes TAP Express.
- Includes Olympic Air.
- 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 Azores Airlines and SATA Air Açores
- Includes SkyUp MT.
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.
| Aviation statistics | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airports worldwide | |||||||||||||||
| Busiest airports by continent and country |
| ||||||||||||||
| Airlines | |||||||||||||||
| Routes | |||||||||||||||