It was a predictable little revolution, but the low-cost carrier Ryanair finally became the Europe's leading airline with 116.8 million passengers, surpassing the Lufthansa Group (Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian and Eurowings) with 110 million passengers. The third carrier to reach 100 million passengers in 2016, the IAG comprising British Airways, Iberia, Vueling and, since last year, Ireland's Aer Lingus. Together, these airlines handled 100.7 million passengers. They are followed by Air France-KLM with 93.4 million passengers, and in fifth place, Europe's second-largest low-cost airline, Easyjet with some 74.8 million passengers.
The low-cost dynamic thus remains unbroken. While the traditional airlines recorded modest or moderate increases - the Lufthansa group recorded an increase in passenger numbers of 1.8%, Turkish Airlines 2.5%, while Air France-KLM and SAS did better at +4% - the low-cost airlines posted record increases. Turkish Airlines and Air France were hit hard by the terrorist attacks, which had a negative impact on demand.
Although Ryanair recorded a 15% jump in passenger numbers, the Irish airline did not post the best performance. The number of passengers using Volotea is up 40%, Hungary's Wizz Air saw its passenger numbers jump by 18%, Transavia of 22.5% and Norwegian of 14%.
The only exception to the remarkable performance of low-cost carriers : Airberlinwhich is more of a hybrid carrier than a true low-cost carrier, saw its passenger traffic contract by 4%. The airline is going from one restructuring plan to the next, reducing its fleet and its network. Moreover, 2017 is likely to see a sharp fall in traffic following yet another restructuring, with 38 of its aircraft being transferred to Eurowings (Lufthansa group) and the concentration of its activities on the "low-cost" network. Berlin Tegel and Düsseldorf.
Easyjet recorded more modest growth than its low-cost competitors. The carrier with the orange and white logo posted a 6% increase in passengers.
Among the traditional carriers, we can see that it is often the group's low-cost subsidiary that is driving up passenger numbers. Eurowings carried 8.8% more passengers last year, compared with +0.1% for Lufthansa and +2.5% for Swiss; Transavia, with 22.5% of growth, contrasts with the 1% drop in Air France/Hop traffic to 49.7 million passengers, and does better than KLM, with an increase of 6.4%; at IAG, Vueling is soaring with +9% of passengers, double the growth of British Airways.
In 2017, other low-cost carriers are set to gain places in the rankings of the biggest airlines: Norwegian is set to overtake its rival SAS Scandinavian Airlines, becoming Northern Europe's biggest airline and Europe's eighth biggest. Hungary's Wizz Air, now the leading carrier in Central and Eastern Europe with over 22 million passengers, is expected to overtake Italy's national carrier Alitalia, which is also suffering from uncertainties about its future.
The launch of low-cost long-haul routes, with two aircraft based in Barcelona for the IAG Group, should continue to accelerate the penetration of low-cost or hybrid transport in Europe. The same is true of Air France's long-haul hybrid airline project. These strategies should be reflected in the market share of low-cost/hybrid transport in Europe, which should eventually reach 50%.
