Italy ‘latest LCC battleground’
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Low-cost carriers are currently battling out for more traffic into and around Italy as European flight capacity increases, according to new analysis.
Numbers crunched by OAG have found Ryanair will operate nearly 39,000 extra weekly seats from Italy this May compared to last year and while Alitalia’s market share has fallen it still plans to increase its capacity by 7% this year.
Ryanair opened four new Italian bases in December but is known to have an ‘expand fast, then contract’ approach to new routes, while in comparison easyJet has focused on driving more flights into key airports.
Irish airline Ryanair has also led double-digit capacity growth in Greece with a 70% rise, while Malta is the second European country with the largest seat growth predominantly thanks to Air Malta.
Capacity in Europe is due to increase 4%, or by 3.6 million seats this May compared to May 2013.
This is slightly lower than the world average, which has found there will be 5% more seats this month, meaning an extra 16.5 million seats.
Tunisia, Cyprus and Egypt are among the countries not yet seeing low-cost carrier growth, although the former could see the market open up soon as part of a skies agreement.
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