According to the study carried out by Mabrian Technologies and released this Monday, Spain becomes the third country, after the United States and India, with the most low-cost scheduled seats during 2023. From the analysis of the airline schedules of 698 companies worldwide, Classifying them into two categories -regular and low cost- it follows that 36% of the seats scheduled in 2023 correspond to the latter, more than 2,000 million, which are distributed among 173 airlines.
The United States leads the ranking with more than 395 million low-cost seats, followed by India, with 147 million; Spain, with 108 million; China, with 98 million, and Italy, with 85 million. By low-cost airlines, the following stand out due to the volume of seats: Southwest, Ryanair, Indigo, Easyjet Spirit.
Dependence on low cost by regions
In Europe, the countries that receive the most low-cost flights are: Latvia, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Belgium, Slovakia, Italy, Hungary and Macedonia, with more than 70% of the total, reaching 91% in the first of them. In Spain, this share is 67.6%.
Asia is a continent with a high predominance of low-cost flights, with especially dependent countries such as India, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, with a percentage of more than 60% of all flights. In Africa, the countries that receive the most flights of this type are Liberia, Togo, Sierra Leone, Gambia and Gabon (between 52% and 64.2%).
In the Pacific, Australia stands out, with 46% of low-cost seats, while in countries like New Zealand, Palau and Fiji, the percentage of this type of airline is practically residual. In North America, in Mexico more than 60% are low-cost, while the United States, despite being the country with the highest total volume of low-cost seats, the share is only 33.7% of these flights.
In the Caribbean and Central America, only Puerto Rico exceeds a level of 50% of low-cost seats, while Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and Haiti have more than 40%. In South America, Brazil is the country with the greatest predominance of low-cost connectivity, with a 60% share, followed by Chile, with less than 40%.
The percentage of dependency on low cost is closely related to three different attributes: the degree of support from regulatory authorities, the high percentage of domestic trips and the importance of leisure traffic and VFR (visiting friends and family for its acronym in English). ). ), according to Gavin Eccles, an expert at GE Consulting.
The countries with the largest population (apart from China), India, Mexico and Brazil, have a share of more than 60%, since the phenomenon of low cost has allowed carriers to compete with bus and train networks.
Europe is “a great prodigy of a strong low-cost model related to holidays and getaways, as Ryanair, easyJet and Wizz Air have pushed the north-south axis (originally for northern Europeans to holiday in the south ). of the continent) and the work trips of emigrants from East to West, from Eastern Europe to Western European countries”.
The EU’s open skies policy allowed for strong base development, as an airline with a European AOC (Air Operator’s Certificate) could establish operations and fly within and from any member state.
“This advantage has allowed countries to really commit and support the low-cost model with airport incentives and marketing deals to boost routes.”
