Largest Airlines in Europe: Key Statistics for 2026
Ryanair carried 208.4 million passengers in its latest financial year, more than any other airline group in Europe. Lufthansa Group, IAG and Air France-KLM follow, and between them they lead on revenue, fleet size and capacity. Which airline counts as the largest depends on the measure you pick.
The ranking matters for travellers because the biggest groups set schedules across thousands of routes, and their decisions shape fares, route choice and how many spare seats exist when a summer goes wrong. It matters for the industry too: consolidation is still under way, with Lufthansa taking control of ITA Airways and Air France-KLM moving to a majority stake in SAS. This page ranks the groups by passengers, revenue, fleet and capacity using each company's own full-year results, then looks at how traffic has moved in 2026. For the structure of the market as a whole, including segments and load factors, see our European passenger airline statistics.
Key Statistics on Europe's Largest Airlines at a Glance
- Ryanair Group carried 208.4 million passengers in its financial year to 31 March 2026, the most of any European airline group.
Source: Ryanair Holdings FY26 results, 2026 - Lufthansa Group carried 135.0 million passengers in 2025, the most of Europe's three network airline groups.
Source: Lufthansa Group Annual Report 2025 - IAG carried 121.6 million passengers in 2025, down 0.4%, even though its capacity grew 2.4%.
Source: IAG full year results 2025 - Air France-KLM carried 102.8 million passengers in 2025, up 5.0% on 2024.
Source: Air France-KLM Full Year 2025 results, 2026 - Turkish Airlines Group, including AJet, carried 92.6 million passengers in 2025, up 8.8%.
Source: Turkish Airlines monthly traffic results, December 2025 - 11 European airline groups carried more than 20 million passengers in their latest full financial year.
Source: company annual results, 2025-2026 (AirAdvisor compilation) - Lufthansa Group had the highest revenue, EUR 39.6 billion in 2025, ahead of IAG at EUR 33.2 billion.
Source: Lufthansa Group Annual Report 2025; IAG full year results 2025 - Lufthansa Group had the largest fleet, 737 aircraft at the end of 2025, including 22 Lufthansa Cargo aircraft.
Source: Lufthansa Group Annual Report 2025 - IAG offered the most capacity: 351.4 billion available seat kilometres in 2025.
Source: IAG full year results 2025 - Pegasus grew booked passengers 15% to 43.3 million in 2025, the fastest growth among the ten largest groups.
Source: Pegasus 4Q25 results presentation, 2026 - Wizz Air carried 69.7 million passengers in the year to 31 March 2026, up 10.0%.
Source: Wizz Air F26 final results, 2026 - Ryanair Group averaged 3,184 daily flights in 2025, the busiest operator in the Eurocontrol network for the eleventh year running.
Source: Eurocontrol European Aviation Overview 2025, 2026 - Wizz Air passengers rose 25.1% in April to June 2026, while Lufthansa Group's fell 4.1%.
Source: Wizz Air Q1 F27 results; Lufthansa Group interim report, 2026 - The kerosene market price averaged USD 1,133.90 a tonne in the first half of 2026, 60% more than a year earlier, according to Lufthansa Group.
Source: Lufthansa Group 2nd Interim Report, January to June 2026 - Turkish Airlines Group carried 64.0 million passengers from January to August 2026, up 5.4%.
Source: Turkish Airlines monthly traffic results, August 2026 - Ryanair cut its FY27 traffic target from 216 million to 214 million passengers after August 2026 traffic grew 6% to 22.2 million.
Source: Ryanair August 2026 traffic release
Europe's Largest Airline Groups by Passengers
Passenger numbers are the most common way to rank airlines, and the only measure every group publishes, although definitions differ slightly (Pegasus, for example, counts booked passengers). The chart covers every European airline group that reported more than 20 million passengers in its latest full financial year. Five of them close their books outside the calendar year, so their bars are shaded lighter; the source line below the chart gives each period.
Source: Company full-year results: Ryanair Holdings FY26 (18 May 2026), Lufthansa Group Annual Report 2025 (6 March 2026), IAG full year results 2025 (February 2026), Air France-KLM Full Year 2025 (19 February 2026), easyJet FY25 results (25 November 2025), Turkish Airlines traffic results December 2025, Wizz Air F26 results (11 June 2026), Pegasus 4Q25 presentation (March 2026), SAS Annual Report FY2025, Norwegian Q4 2025 report (13 February 2026), Jet2 plc preliminary results 2026 (8 July 2026). Financial years: Ryanair, Wizz Air and Jet2 April 2025 to March 2026; easyJet October 2024 to September 2025; SAS November 2024 to October 2025; all others calendar 2025.
Ryanair's 208.4 million passengers put it 73.4 million ahead of Lufthansa Group (135.0 million), with IAG third at 121.6 million and Air France-KLM fourth at 102.8 million. easyJet (93.4 million) and Turkish Airlines Group (92.6 million) sit less than a million passengers apart, and because easyJet's year ended in September 2025, the order of those two could change on a calendar-year basis. Growth varied widely: Pegasus rose 15% and SAS 12%, while IAG was the only group in the chart to carry fewer passengers than a year earlier. Below the 20 million line, other European groups with 2025 totals between 15 and 20 million include Aegean (17.3 million), TAP Air Portugal (16.7 million), ITA Airways (16.2 million, down 8%) and SunExpress (almost 16 million).
The Biggest Airlines Inside Lufthansa Group, IAG and Air France-KLM
Group totals hide the brands travellers actually book. The three network groups report passengers for each of their airlines, and together those airlines carried 359.4 million passengers in 2025. Air France-KLM reports Air France and KLM as one passenger network, with Transavia shown separately.
Source: Lufthansa Group, Annual Report 2025, segment key figures (Lufthansa Airlines includes regional airlines and Discover Airlines; SWISS includes Edelweiss); IAG, Full year results 2025, traffic statistics by airline; Air France-KLM, Full Year 2025 press release, 19 February 2026, passenger network and Transavia activity. Calendar year 2025.
Air France and KLM's combined network carried 76.8 million passengers, and Lufthansa Airlines on its own carried 65.7 million, more than any single airline brand in IAG. British Airways was IAG's largest airline with 46.3 million, though Vueling (38.2 million) is close behind, and the low-cost brands matter in all three groups: Transavia carried 26.1 million and Eurowings 23.7 million. Iberia's traffic fell 4.1% to 24.8 million in 2025, the main reason IAG's group total slipped.
Financial Years, Revenue and Fleet at a Glance
European airlines do not share a reporting calendar, so any cross-company ranking mixes periods. The table sets out the basis for each of the ten largest groups by passengers, with revenue in the currency each company reports.
| Group | Financial year used | Passengers | Change vs prior year | Revenue (reported currency) | Fleet (date) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryanair Group | April 2025 to March 2026 | 208.4m | +4.1% | EUR 15,544m | 647 (31 Mar 2026) |
| Lufthansa Group | Calendar 2025 | 135.0m | +2.8% | EUR 39,597m | 737 (31 Dec 2025) |
| IAG | Calendar 2025 | 121.6m | -0.4% | EUR 33,213m | 627 in service (31 Dec 2025) |
| Air France-KLM | Calendar 2025 | 102.8m | +5.0% | EUR 33,007m | 596 (31 Dec 2025) |
| easyJet | October 2024 to September 2025 | 93.4m | +4.2% | GBP 10,106m | 356 (30 Sep 2025) |
| Turkish Airlines Group (incl. AJet) | Calendar 2025 | 92.6m | +8.8% | USD 24,096m | 516 (end 2025) |
| Wizz Air | April 2025 to March 2026 | 69.7m | +10.0% | EUR 5,691m | 262 (31 Mar 2026) |
| Pegasus | Calendar 2025 | 43.3m | +15% | EUR 3,414m | 127 (31 Dec 2025) |
| SAS | November 2024 to October 2025 | 28.3m | +12% | SEK 49,106m | 140, incl. 24 wet-leased (31 Oct 2025) |
| Norwegian Group (incl. Wideroe) | Calendar 2025 | 27.3m | +3.1% | NOK 37,646m | 146 (31 Dec 2025) |
Mixed financial years: Ryanair and Wizz Air count April 2025 to March 2026, easyJet October 2024 to September 2025, and SAS November 2024 to October 2025. Their totals therefore include months that the calendar-year groups report in a different year. Revenue also covers each group's non-airline businesses, such as Lufthansa Technik maintenance, IAG's loyalty and cargo units and easyJet holidays, so it measures the size of the whole company.
Largest European Airline Groups by Revenue
Revenue reorders the list. Long-haul networks, premium cabins, cargo and maintenance businesses lift the three network groups well above the low-cost carriers, even those that fly more people. Figures reported in dollars, pounds, Swedish kronor and Norwegian kroner are converted to euros at the average European Central Bank reference rate for each company's financial year.
Source: Company full-year results (see table above for periods and reported currencies). Conversions by AirAdvisor using the average of monthly ECB euro reference rates over each financial year: USD 1.1293 (2025), GBP 0.8458 (October 2024 to September 2025), SEK 11.1647 (November 2024 to October 2025), NOK 11.7170 (2025) per euro.
Lufthansa Group led with EUR 39.6 billion, followed by IAG (EUR 33.2 billion) and Air France-KLM (EUR 33.0 billion), which finished only about EUR 0.2 billion apart. Turkish Airlines' USD 24.1 billion converts to roughly EUR 21.3 billion. Ryanair ranks fifth by revenue at EUR 15.5 billion in its year to March 2026: Lufthansa Group earned about 2.5 times as much while carrying 35% fewer passengers. For a global comparison of airline revenue, see our airline operating revenue statistics.
Which European Airline Group Has the Biggest Fleet?
Fleet counts are the least standardised of the four measures. Some groups count every aircraft they own or lease, others only those in service, and some include freighters or wet-leased aircraft flown by partners. The chart uses each group's own year-end figure for the ten largest groups by passengers.
Source: Lufthansa Group Annual Report 2025 (31 December 2025, includes 22 Lufthansa Cargo aircraft); Ryanair FY26 results (31 March 2026); IAG full year results 2025 (aircraft in service, 31 December 2025); Air France-KLM Full Year 2025 (596 aircraft, of which 586 in operation, 31 December 2025); Turkish Airlines 2025 results (end 2025); easyJet FY25 (30 September 2025); Wizz Air F26 (31 March 2026); Norwegian Q4 2025 report (95 Norwegian and 51 Wideroe aircraft); SAS Annual Report FY2025 (aircraft in operation incl. wet lease, 31 October 2025); Pegasus 4Q25 presentation (31 December 2025).
Lufthansa Group's 737 aircraft make it the largest fleet, and it stays first even without its 22 cargo aircraft. Ryanair follows with 647, all Boeing 737s apart from 26 Airbus A320s, and IAG has 627 in service. Low-cost fleets work harder: Ryanair carried 73.4 million more passengers than Lufthansa Group with 90 fewer aircraft, a sign of how intensively low-cost fleets are used on short routes. Wizz Air ended its year with 262 aircraft and says its fleet, with an average age of about 4.5 years, is the youngest of any major European airline.
Capacity Ranking: Available Seat Kilometres
Available seat kilometres (ASK) measure capacity: one seat flown one kilometre, whether or not someone sits in it. Because distance counts, long-haul networks score far higher than their passenger numbers suggest. The chart shows every group among the ten largest that states a total annual ASK figure in its full-year results; Ryanair does not report ASK in its results, and SAS's FY2025 annual report does not give a total.
Source: IAG full year results 2025; Lufthansa Group Annual Report 2025; Air France-KLM Full Year 2025; Turkish Airlines traffic results December 2025; easyJet FY25 results (October 2024 to September 2025); Wizz Air F26 results (April 2025 to March 2026); Pegasus 4Q25 presentation; Norwegian Q4 2025 report.
IAG led on capacity with 351.4 billion ASK, ahead of Lufthansa Group (338.6 billion) and Air France-KLM (336.5 billion), so the three network groups sit within 15 billion ASK of each other. IAG ranks first despite carrying fewer passengers than Lufthansa because its average passenger travels further: dividing revenue passenger kilometres by passengers gives about 2,475 km per passenger at IAG, against about 2,087 km at Lufthansa Group. easyJet and Wizz Air are almost level at 134.5 billion and 132.0 billion ASK, although their financial years end six months apart.
2026 Traffic Trends: April to June Passengers
The second quarter of 2026 was the first real test of the year. Airlines cited the conflict in the Middle East, route suspensions and a sharp rise in fuel costs, and they reacted in different ways. The chart compares April to June 2026 passengers with the same months of 2025 for the ten largest groups, except SAS, whose financial quarters run May to July.
Source: Wizz Air Q1 F27 results (6 August 2026); Ryanair Q1 FY27 results (20 July 2026; change calculated from 57.9 million and 61.3 million, Ryanair reports +6%); Air France-KLM Q2 2026 results (30 July 2026); Norwegian Q2 2026 report (14 July 2026); Turkish Airlines traffic results August 2026 (calculated); IAG H1 results 2026; easyJet Q3 FY26 trading update (23 July 2026); Pegasus 2Q26 presentation (August 2026); Lufthansa Group 2nd Interim Report 2026 (4 August 2026).
Wizz Air grew fastest, carrying 21.2 million passengers in the quarter, 25.1% more than a year earlier, after moving most of its Middle East capacity back to central and eastern Europe. Ryanair added about 6% to reach 61.3 million, though it said fares fell 6%. At the other end, Lufthansa Group carried 4.1% fewer passengers (35.6 million), and it described the first half as shaped by the Middle East crisis, higher kerosene prices and strikes. Five of the nine groups carried fewer passengers than a year earlier, although in four of them the fall was 1% or less.
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Monthly Passengers in 2026: Turkish Airlines Group
Turkish Airlines publishes group-wide passenger numbers every month, including its low-cost unit AJet, which gives a clear month-by-month view of how 2026 has unfolded for one of Europe's six largest groups. The comparison runs from January to August.
Source: Turkish Airlines Investor Relations, monthly traffic results (August 2026 file, including revised 2025 months). Passengers carried, all flights, Turkish Airlines main brand and AJet.
The group started 2026 strongly, with January up 12.5%, before April (-2.9%) and June (-1.6%) fell below 2025. Summer brought a rebound: August reached 10.0 million passengers, 5.6% more than a year earlier and the first month above 10 million in the traffic data published for 2024 to 2026. Year to date, the group carried 64.0 million passengers, up 5.4%. The low-cost carriers that report monthly also grew in August: Ryanair carried 22.2 million passengers (+6%) and Wizz Air 8.7 million (+25.9%), but Ryanair then trimmed its full-year target by 2 million passengers to limit exposure to unhedged winter fuel.
Europe's Busiest Airlines by Daily Flights
Eurocontrol, which manages Europe's air traffic network, ranks aircraft operators by the flights they operate in its network. Its list is built from operating airlines and airline sub-groups, so Lufthansa Airlines, Air France, KLM, British Airways and Vueling appear separately from their parent groups.
Source: Eurocontrol, European Aviation Overview 2025, 23 January 2026. Average daily flights, 1 January to 31 December 2025, 10 busiest aircraft operators.
Ryanair Group averaged 3,184 daily flights in 2025, almost twice easyJet Group's 1,611, with Turkish Airlines Group third at 1,559. Wizz Air Group had the biggest gain over 2019 among the ten (+54%), while Lufthansa Airlines was still 24% below its pre-pandemic level. The newest weekly data show the same leader: in the week of 7 to 13 September 2026, Ryanair Group averaged 3,744 daily flights, and when Eurocontrol combined each group's airlines, Lufthansa Group (3,079), IAG (2,375) and Air France-KLM (2,096) ranked second to fourth. Wizz Air was 24% above the same week of 2025, the strongest growth among the busiest ten. How reliably these airlines operate is a separate question, covered in our statistics on Europe's most unreliable airlines.
Outlook: Consolidation Will Reshape the Ranking
The next rankings will look different. Lufthansa exercised its option in June 2026 to raise its stake in ITA Airways from 41% to 90%, and plans to consolidate the Italian airline financially once the deal completes at the start of 2027; ITA carried 16.2 million passengers in 2025. Air France-KLM, which announced in July 2025 that it intends to raise its SAS stake to 60.5%, still targeted closing in the second half of 2026 in its February 2026 results, and Pegasus agreed in December 2025 to buy Czech Airlines and Smartwings. Ryanair expects 214 million passengers in its current financial year, and fuel prices remain the main risk to every group's plans. For the equivalent ranking across the Atlantic, see our largest airlines in North America.
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References and Sources
- Ryanair Holdings, FY26 results (year to 31 March 2026), 18 May 2026
- Ryanair Holdings, Q1 FY27 results (quarter to 30 June 2026), 20 July 2026
- Ryanair, August 2026 traffic release, 2 September 2026
- Lufthansa Group, Annual Report 2025, 6 March 2026
- Lufthansa Group, 2nd Interim Report January to June 2026, 4 August 2026
- International Airlines Group, Full year results 2025, February 2026
- International Airlines Group, Interim management report for the six months to 30 June 2026, July 2026
- Air France-KLM, Full Year 2025 results press release, 19 February 2026
- Air France-KLM, Q2 2026 Results, 30 July 2026
- easyJet plc, Results for the twelve months ended 30 September 2025, 25 November 2025
- easyJet plc, Trading Update for the quarter ended 30 June 2026, 23 July 2026
- Turkish Airlines Investor Relations, December 2025 traffic results, January 2026
- Turkish Airlines Investor Relations, August 2026 traffic results, September 2026
- Turkish Airlines, Consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2025 (USD, IFRS), 2026
- Wizz Air Holdings, Final Results (year to 31 March 2026), 11 June 2026
- Wizz Air Holdings, Results for the three months to 30 June 2026, 6 August 2026
- Wizz Air Holdings, August 2026 Traffic and CO2 Emission Statistics, 2 September 2026
- Pegasus Airlines, 4Q25 Financial Results Presentation, March 2026
- Pegasus Airlines, 2Q26 Financial Results Presentation, August 2026
- Pegasus Airlines, Pegasus Airlines signs agreement to acquire Czech Airlines and its subsidiary Smartwings, December 2025
- SAS AB, Annual Report, fiscal year 2025 (November 2024 to October 2025), January 2026
- Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA, Fourth quarter 2025 financial report, 13 February 2026
- Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA, Second quarter 2026 financial report, 14 July 2026
- Jet2 plc, Preliminary Results for the year ended 31 March 2026, 8 July 2026
- ITA Airways, Board of Directors approves the 2025 Financial Statements Project, 25 March 2026
- Aegean Airlines, Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Results, 12 March 2026
- TAP S.A., Q4 2025 Earnings Release, April 2026
- SunExpress, SunExpress reports 7% passenger growth in 2025, January 2026
- Eurocontrol, European Aviation Overview 2025, 23 January 2026
- Eurocontrol, European Aviation Overview, week 37 (7 to 13 September 2026), 17 September 2026
- European Central Bank, Euro foreign exchange reference rates (monthly averages, USD, GBP, SEK, NOK), accessed 25 September 2026
- Council of the European Union, Regulation (EU) 2022/334 (closure of EU airspace to Russian air carriers), 28 February 2022
- European Parliament and Council, Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 on air passenger rights, 11 February 2004
Methodology Note
Rankings use each company's own full-year results for its latest completed financial year and cover European-headquartered airline groups; Russian carriers are excluded because they have been barred from EU airspace since February 2022 under Regulation (EU) 2022/334. The passenger chart includes every group that reported more than 20 million passengers; the revenue, fleet and capacity comparisons use the ten largest of those groups, and the ASK chart shows only groups that state an annual ASK total (Ryanair does not report ASK in its results and SAS's FY2025 annual report gives no total). Financial years differ (Ryanair, Wizz Air and Jet2 end in March 2026, easyJet in September 2025, SAS in October 2025, the rest in December 2025), so the figures are not a single common period. Group scope follows company reporting: Lufthansa Group's 2025 figures exclude ITA Airways (a 41% holding in 2025), Turkish Airlines includes AJet, Norwegian includes Wideroe, SAS's fleet includes 24 wet-leased aircraft, Lufthansa's fleet includes 22 cargo aircraft, IAG's fleet counts aircraft in service, and Pegasus reports booked passengers. SunExpress, jointly owned by Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines, reports separately and is not part of either group's totals. Revenue is total group revenue, including non-airline activities; USD, GBP, SEK and NOK figures were converted by AirAdvisor using the simple average of monthly ECB reference rates over each financial year. Percentage changes, differences, ratios and average distance per passenger (revenue passenger kilometres divided by passengers) were calculated by AirAdvisor from reported figures and rounded to one decimal place; where a company states its own growth rate (for example Pegasus +15%, SAS +12%, Wizz Air +10.0%), the stated rate is used. Quarterly comparisons use April to June for all groups except SAS, whose quarters run May to July. Some secondary summaries of these results quote different figures (for example Turkish Airlines' 2024 revenue of USD 22.7 billion as its 2025 total, or Pegasus's fourth-quarter growth of 19% as its annual rate); the primary company documents were used in every case. No forecasts are shown in the charts; the only forward-looking figure, Ryanair's 214 million FY27 target, is labelled as a target.
Author:
Amy LancelotteJob/Position: Senior Writer & Content Strategist
Amy Lancelotte is a Senior Content Writer and editorial contributor at AirAdvisor with over seven years of experience producing research-based articles for international audiences. Her work focuses on travel, aviation, and air passenger rights, with an emphasis on factual accuracy, verified data, and clear, reader-first explanations.
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