With 117 million passengers, an increase of 15% in traffic, Ryanair is still Europe's leading carrier. By comparison, easyJet came close to the 75 million passenger mark in 2016 - 74.45 million to be precise - thanks to a 6.6% increase in traffic. The two low-cost carriers are Europe's number one and number five airlines, alongside the three major continental groups, in order Lufthansa, IAG and Air France KLM.
In 2016, the airlines in the Lufthansa group carried a total of 109.67 million passengers, an increase of 1.8%. The group recorded a slight fall in passenger numbers to 79.1% (-1.4 pt), while capacity offered increased by 4.6%. In detail, the German carrier recorded traffic almost equal to that of 2015 (+0.1%) with 62.42 million passengers carried, while Swiss's traffic rose by 2.5% to 17.97 million passengers. Austrian Airlines recorded 11.39 million passengers, an increase of 5.1%. The hybrid airline Eurowings, which is becoming an increasingly important part of the German group's strategy, continued to grow (+8.8%) with 18.43 million passengers carried.
For its part, the IAG group, made up of Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia and Vueling, exceeded the 100 million passenger mark for the first time (100.68 million), an increase of 14% compared with 2015. The result was welcomed by Willie Walsh, CEO of IAG: "we have never carried as many passengers as last year, with our flights filled to 81.6%." At the same time, capacity offered increased by 9.7%. IAG's main market, with 54.57 million passengers carried, Europe recorded a clear increase in traffic (+21.3%).
With a total of 93.44 million passengers, the Air France-KLM group saw its traffic increase by 4.0 % last year. The average load factor stood at 85.7%, a slight increase on 2015 (+0.2%), with capacity in available seat kilometres up by 1.7%. Between them, Air France and HOP! carried 49.76 million passengers last year, a decline of 1.4%. KLM, meanwhile, recorded traffic growth of 6.4%, with 30.40 million passengers carried. Driven by a buoyant trend for low-cost airlines, Transavia welcomed 13.28 million passengers in 2015, representing significant growth in traffic (+22.7%) for capacity offered up by 14.3%.
