IndiGo and Ryanair, the two largest low-cost carriers (LCCs), are driving double-digit growth in the Top 20 airlines for February 2025, compared to the same month in 2024. IndiGo has increased its capacity by 11.3%, while Ryanair leads with a 12.4% rise.
Following closely is United Airlines, which saw a growth of 5.0%, ranking as the next fastest-growing airline in the Top 20.
Ryanair’s strong growth has propelled it to the position of the 6th largest airline by frequency, climbing two spots from last month. This advancement has placed Ryanair ahead of IndiGo, which has dropped one spot to 8th, and China Eastern Airlines, which also fell one position to 7th.
Deutsche Lufthansa AG continues to experience the most significant decline, with a 13% drop in frequencies compared to February 2024.
The USA remains the largest domestic market, with 76.3 million seats in February 2025—over 8 million seats more than the second-largest domestic market, China, at 68.3 million seats.
Mexico shows the largest growth rate among the Top 10 domestic markets, up 7.8% compared to last year. India, the fastest-growing domestic market last month, is now second in growth, rising by 7.4%.
Indonesia, the market with the largest decline, has seen a 6.5% drop in capacity, followed by Australia, which is down 6.2% compared to February 2024.
Among international markets, the Mexico-USA route remains the largest, with 4.1 million seats in February 2025—more than 1 million seats ahead of the second-largest international market, Spain-UK, at 3 million seats.
The China-Japan market has shown the greatest growth rate, surging by 50% from last year, followed by Italy-Spain, which has grown by 17%.
The Republic of Ireland-UK market has experienced the largest decline in the Top 20 international markets, down 4.9% compared to February 2024.
Global capacity for February 2025 reached 443.7 million seats, a 1.1% increase over the previous year. However, adjusting for the Leap Year shows a stronger underlying growth rate of 4.7% in global capacity.
Carriers added 4.9 million seats in February 2025 (+1.1%) compared to the same month in 2024, with significant increases in Western Europe (+2.4 million seats) and Southeast Asia (+1.5 million seats).
The region with the largest growth rate is North Africa, which has seen an impressive 10.8% increase in capacity compared to last year.
