Routesonline analyses the European aviation industry, taking a monthly look at the top routes served and revealing the airlines that are dominating the market. We also rank the top ten airports by available seat capacity.
The latest figures for September 2017 - all data provided by OAG
Top European airline routes
Izmir Adnan Menderes (ADB) - Istanbul Ataturk Airport (IST) was the European route with the most capacity during September 2017 at 314,075 available seats. Turkish Airlines had the largest capacity on the route during the month with 185,237 seats, followed by Pegasus Airlines (56,664), Onur Air (40,338) and AtlasGlobal (31,836).
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Top European airlines
Low-cost carrier Ryanair's capacity was 12,448,485 during the month, up by 9.7 percent from 11,351,151 in September 2016. The airline's traffic also grew 10 percent to 11.8 million customers. This was despite Ryanair being forced to cancel 2,100 flights during September and October, caused by a 'mess up' surrounding the planning of pilot holidays. Dublin - London Stansted was the route with the most Ryanair capacity in September at 86,940 available seats.
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Top European airports
London Heathrow remained the top European airport for two-way capacity in September 2017. Of the airports in the top ten, Amsterdam added the most capacity compared with a year earlier. The Dutch airport had 3,501,876 available seats in September 2017, compared with 3,250,079 in September 2016.
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The data:
Top routes (September 2017):
| Rank | Route | Capacity (September 2017) |
| 1 | Izmir Adnan Menderes - Istanbul Ataturk | 314075 |
| 2 | London Heathrow - New York J F Kennedy | 310066 |
| 3 | London Heathrow - Dubai International | 309581 |
| 4 | Madrid Adolfo Suarez-Barajas - Barcelona | 295780 |
| 5 | Bergen - Oslo Gardermoen | 270874 |
| 6 | Oslo Gardermoen - Trondheim Vaernes | 262494 |
| 7 | Paris Orly - Toulouse | 261350 |
| 8 | Antalya - Istanbul Ataturk | 254601 |
| 9 | Izmir Adnan Menderes - Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen | 240261 |
| 10 | Berlin Tegel - Munich International | 232714 |
Top airlines:
| Rank | Airline |
Capacity (Sept-17) |
Capacity (Sept-16) |
% change |
| 1 | Ryanair | 12448485 | 11351151 | 9.7% |
| 2 | Easyjet | 8280462 | 7667184 | 8.0% |
| 3 | Turkish Airlines | 7886336 | 7609850 | 3.6% |
| 4 | Lufthansa German Airlines | 7487965 | 7409387 | 1.1% |
| 5 | British Airways | 5013958 | 5027585 | -0.3% |
| 6 | Air France | 4895128 | 4872448 | 0.5% |
| 7 | Aeroflot Russian Airlines | 4647877 | 4043042 | 15.0% |
| 8 | SAS Scandinavian Airlines | 3763680 | 3777251 | -0.4% |
| 9 | Vueling Airlines | 3483030 | 3466092 | 0.5% |
| 10 | KLM-Royal Dutch Airlines | 3377895 | 3054208 | 10.6% |
Top airports:
| Rank | Airport |
Capacity (Sept-17) |
Capacity (Sept-16) |
% change |
| 1 | London Heathrow Apt | 4216363 | 4200276 | 0.4% |
| 2 | Frankfurt International Apt | 3767392 | 3639416 | 3.5% |
| 3 | Paris Charles de Gaulle Apt | 3687592 | 3590581 | 2.7% |
| 4 | Istanbul Ataturk Airport | 3638307 | 3634694 | 0.1% |
| 5 | Amsterdam | 3501876 | 3250079 | 7.7% |
| 6 | Madrid Adolfo Suarez-Barajas Apt | 2873202 | 2721625 | 5.6% |
| 7 | Munich International Airport | 2743778 | 2677842 | 2.5% |
| 8 | Barcelona Apt | 2721397 | 2564194 | 6.1% |
| 9 | London Gatwick Apt | 2462507 | 2412613 | 2.1% |
| 10 | Rome Fiumicino Apt | 2439980 | 2461125 | -0.9% |
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