How strongly are low-cost airlines currently represented in European air transport - and where does Germany stand in comparison? A recent analysis by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) provides well-founded answers to this question. The analysis comes from the DLR Institute of Air Transport based in Hamburg - an important research centre within the northern German aviation cluster. A third of all intra-European flights (around 30 per cent) were operated by low-cost carriers in the reference week in January 2025.
Although the share of low-cost offers in the European air traffic system is more or less stable at around 30 per cent compared to 2019, the corresponding share in Germany has fallen from 32 per cent to 21.4 per cent in the same period and is well below the European average. One reason the authors give is that Europe's largest low-cost provider, Ryanair, has significantly expanded its services in Europe (by around 12 per cent), while in Germany they have been significantly reduced by around 33 per cent in the same period.
According to DLR, countries such as Slovakia, Ireland and Spain have particularly high low-cost shares. In a country comparison, Germany is in fifth place, behind Spain, the UK, Italy and France. At airport level, airports in Germany such as Memmingen, Weeze and Hahn have a low-cost share of over 90 per cent.
The new format ‘DLR MONITOR Air Transport and Low-Cost’ replaces the previous ‘DLR Low Cost Monitor’ and for the first time also provides global analyses of the low-cost market as well as further classifications and evaluations.