As the world of aviation turns its gaze to Farnborough, Hampshire, for the 2026 edition of the Farnborough International Airshow, this week’s Flight Friday highlights the utilization of the largest airline groups of Western Europe.
In terms of aggregated monthly cycles, Ryanair group has the highest number of flights. With Ryanair taking its last Boeing 737-8-200 in early 2026, its ability to increase utilization further will be slightly hampered until the certification and subsequent introduction of the 150 737-10s that it has on order, which may begin in 2027.
The other LCC in the list is the EasyJet group. EasyJet has the lowest number of aggregated monthly flights, which peak over the northern hemisphere summer months at over 55,000 flights.
EasyJet, however, has a large order book, with over 270 Airbus aircraft coming over the next decade or so, dominated by A321neos with over 150 on order, which will allow the EasyJet group to upgauge as they replace legacy A319s with larger aircraft.
For the full-service carrier groups, Lufthansa Group leads the way. Overall utilization has softened, though, with the termination of the Cityline brand and the removal of its MHIRJ CRJs from service due to the increase in fuel cost stemming from the Middle East conflict.
IAG and Air France/KLM groups have very similar overall numbers. IAG has more than 170 aircraft on order, which will in part help fleet growth but is also aimed at fleet modernization.
Air France has less than a handful of A220s left on order and then has 50 A350s plus three A350Fs on order, with KLM only having a sole 787 remaining on the order books. This suggests that the Air France/KLM group utilization will remain reasonably constant with fleet replacement rather than growth.
This data was put together using Aviation Week’s Tracked Aircraft Utilization database.
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