Summary Low-cost carriers hold around a third of US airline capacity, with a 34% share. LCCs in the US on the rise post-pandemic, ULCCs growing from 6% to 11%. Globally, LCCs operate 30% of scheduled flights, 15% of airlines, four in the top 10 are LCCs.
Low-cost carriers (LCC) are the airlines passengers around the world love to hate. In 2024, LCC carriers will account for around 34% of the US airline capacity, with legacy airlines accounting for the other 66%. A new OAG report sheds light on LCC carriers both in the US and internationally, together with the industry trends.
Note that some carriers are not truly binary LCC or full-service (e.g. Southwest is considered a hybrid that pioneered the LCC model ).
Some US-based low-cost carriers are even introducing premium options in their cabins . Low cost carriers account for around a third of the US airline capacity The United States is right around the global average in terms of the share of LCC capacity and legacy airline capacity. Since the Covid pandemic, LCCs have increased their global share capacity by 13%, while legacy airlines have not yet fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels.
At the same time, Ultra-Low-Cost-Carriers (ULCC) in the United States have seen their share rise from 6% in 2015 to 11% in 2023 (Allegiant, Frontier Airlines, and Breeze are examples of ULCCs). At 34% capacity share, the US is similar to Germany (with a 69/31 legacy/low-cost share). Low-cost carriers are popular in India (with a 71% share), In.