Analysis by Raph Anker’s Anna Aero shows that Ryanair has re-asserted itself as the world’s number one airline for new route launches in 2016.
After unexpectedly only tying with easyJet in 2015 (when both carriers launched 99 new routes) the Irish ULCC was a clear winner last year starting service on 200 new airport pairs, easily beating its nearest rivals, fellow European LCCs easyJet and Wizz Air. In total we identified 3,042 new services started by airlines across the world in 2016, down very slightly from the 3,109 we found in 2015.
Of the new services in 2016, 55pc were on airport pairs not served by any other carrier. The average frequency of the new services launched was 4.1 flights per week. On routes already served by other carriers the average weekly frequency of the new services was 4.9 flights per week (up from 4.8 in 2015), while on those services that were genuinely new routes the average weekly frequency was 3.4 flights per week (the same as in 2015). Airlines used Airbus aircraft to launch around 200 more new services than were started using Boeing aircraft.
European LCCs dominate the list of the leading airlines for new route launches. Of the top 20 airlines in 2016, 13 are based in Europe, and with the exception of Flybe, could all be considered as LCCs. The airlines have a good geographic spread covering Germany (Eurowings, Germania and SunExpress Germany), Romania (Blue Air), Scandinavia (Norwegian) and the UK (Flybe and Jet2.com). Airlines like Transavia, Volotea and Vueling have pan-European operations with bases in several different countries.
The seven non-European carriers include three ULCCs (Allegiant Air, Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines), one LCC (Southwest Airlines) and three traditional, legacy carriers (American Airlines, China Eastern Airlines and Delta Air Lines). Six of these carriers are based in the US, with China Eastern being the obvious exception. Compared with last year’s top 20 airlines, Flybe, Transavia, Eurowings, Blue Air and Jet2.com have replaced Pobeda, Aegean Airlines, Turkish Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Aeroflot – it’s pretty clear that some of those airlines have come under weighty external pressures.
Airports in the US have still had more route launches to celebrate than those in any other country. In fact, there have been more than twice as many new routes started from US airports than from any other country. The runner-up spot in these rankings was hotly contested between Spain, Germany and the UK. In the end Spain repeated its 2015 achievement of being the European country generating the most new airline services. Of the top 15 countries for new services in 2016, 14 were also in the top 15 in 2015, with Poland 13th replacing Thailand (which ranked 15th in 2015).
As we start 2017, our New Route Database currently has details of 1,150 new services that are scheduled to start before the end of the year. These are being flown by 162 airlines. This time last year the corresponding figures were 1,100 and 170 suggesting that 2017 is indeed going to be another busy year for airline route launches. A total of 12 airlines have already indicated their intention to start over 20 new services this year (the same number as this time last year) with Ryanair, Eurowings, Jet2.com, Wizz Air, easyJet and Volotea leading the way, followed by Germania, Delta, Thomas Cook Airlines, Blue Air, Norwegian and Transavia.
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