Low-cost carriers (LCCs) now make up almost a third of global airline capacity; in March 2023 they accounted for 32% of all scheduled airline seats globally, up from 29% in 2019 and 25% in 2015. During the upheaval of the pandemic their share dropped in 2020 and 2021, but began to rise again in 2022 – sometimes exceeding 1 in 3 seats.
The highest proportion of airline capacity operated by LCCs is in South Asia at 63%, followed by South East Asia with 52%.
As the chart below shows, almost every region in the world has seen LCCs increase share since March 2019 - with the exception of Upper South America and North East Asia, which have relatively low shares of capacity on LCCs.
LCCs now contribute more than half of all scheduled airline capacity in the 21 countries listed below. The largest of these is India where the LCC share has reached 74%, and a number are in Eastern Europe including Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Slovakia and North Macedonia, driven in most part by the rise of Wizz Air. Countries where LCCs are dominant may be relatively small in terms of overall capacity, but collectively they account for more than 20% of global capacity., almost double the position in 2019 where they accounted for 11%.
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