The continued growth in the European low-fare airline market is fuelling a rise in the number of flights operating worldwide, it was revealed today.
Budget airline flights now account of 22% of all flights in Europe - up 4% from the figure of 18% this time last year, statistics from UK- based flight information company OAG showed.
Judged by seats alone, the no-frills carriers represent 30% of the total seats available in Europe this month - compared with 24% in September 2006.
Budget airlines will offer 133,000 flights and 21.8 million seats within Europe this month, the research firm said.
Worldwide, airlines will operate 2.47 million flights this month - 4% more than in September 2006. The number of seats available will rise 6% to 295.1 million.
OAG said that Heathrow-Amsterdam was the busiest international route in Europe, while Barcelona-Madrid was the world's busiest.
The busiest low-cost airline route was Mumbai (formerly Bombay) to Delhi.
