Size Matters? How Seats Per Flight Vary For The World's Largest Airlines

Size Matters? How Seats Per Flight Vary For The World’s Largest Airlines

• Among the world’s 100 largest airlines, Emirates leads with 411 seats per flight, well over double the world average.
• It is, of course, due to its massive sub-fleet of Airbus A380s.
• With just 113 seats per flight, Air New Zealand is at the other end of the scale, heavily influenced by its turboprops.

If all the world’s domestic and international flights in February are considered, airlines have an average of 160 seats per flight (S/F), based on Cirium information. But what about the top 100 carriers, which are so large and instrumental that they account for 81% of the world’s capacity this month? Given their sheer dominance, their average is necessarily similar (169). More interesting is the huge but inevitable variation.

World’s top 100 carriers: most S/F

Not surprisingly, behemoth Emirates is the world’s largest airline with the most S/F. It ranks very comfortably first. Its average capacity is more than a third greater than number two, Cathay Pacific, and two and a half times more than the world average.

This dominance is, of course, heavily influenced by Emirates’ Airbus A380s. Seat capacity varies from 484 in a four-class configuration to 650 in a two-class layout. Its Boeing 777-200LRs and 777-300ERs reduce its average.

Notice how all 10 airlines shown below are from the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. This is not surprising: these areas are well known for widebodies, even on short routes and domestically, and freight is often critical. The absence of Chinese airlines is also unsurprising, as they revolve around narrowbodies. The first Chinese carrier was Hainan, in 21st place.

Notice the S/F difference between Emirates, Qatar Airways, and Etihad, with the last two airlines using narrowbodies and, generally, lower-capacity widebodies. It would be different if Emirates’ ever-closer partner, flydubai, were included.

Airline

S/F in February

Emirates

411

Cathay Pacific

303

EVA Air

296

Qatar Airways

270

China Airlines

267

Singapore Airlines

263

Scoot

254

Etihad

249

Asiana

244

Thai Airways

238

World’s top 100 carriers: lowest S/F

Air New Zealand tops the table for having the lowest S/F of the world’s largest 100 operators. It has just 113 seats on average, which is, of course, heavily influenced by its domestic operation using its 50-seat Dash 8 Q300s and 68-seat ATR 72s.

Cirium shows that turboprops operate 63% of ANZ’s total flights in February. They’ll be used on 33 domestic routes to 20 airports. The extent of their dominance is such that they far outweigh ANZ’s jets in the S/F stakes.

Smaller aircraft mean higher cost per seat mile (CASM), lower trip costs (i.e., to operate one flight), and fewer passengers are required to break even at a specified percentage point.

To cover the higher CASM, they require higher fares to increase passenger revenue per seat mile (PRASM). This dictates where they need to be used and what type of passengers they should target.

Airline

S/F in February

Air New Zealand

113

China Express

117

Azul

124

American Airlines

129

United Airlines

133

Alaska Airlines

134

WestJet Airlines

138

Delta Air Lines

139=

Qantas

139=

Aerolineas Argentinas

141

Notice the US Big Three

American, United, and Delta are present in the table above. This is mainly thanks to their regional units’ heavy use of regional jets. In February, 43% of American’s flights deploy RJs, while it is 39% for United and 33% for Delta. This is mainly to feed their many hubs, both in network breadth and frequency terms, driving connectivity and competitiveness.

Related

The USAs 10 Largest Airlines By Flights

Can you guess the order of them?

What do you make of it all? Let us know in the comment section.