Low cost carrier penetration is highest in the traditional European and North American markets .
The rise of low cost airlines has been significant over the past decade, but this has been largely limited to traditional markets.
Europe has the highest concentration of LCC traffic, representing 38% of total air travel in 2012. The South West Pacific and North America regions also have significant LCC penetration, with 37% and 30% respectively. However, in markets where air travel is growing most strongly, LCCs’ respective share of overall air travel remains at modest levels – in the Middle East LCCs represent just 14% of all air travel, in Asia 19% and Latin America 25%. Within specific regions, the spread of LCCs varies strongly. In Europe, Spain has the highest share of departing LCC traffic at 57%, followed by the UK where 52% of all originating air travel is now made on low cost airlines, up 4% from 2011 and passing the 50% milestone for the first time. Despite the low overall share of low cost air travel in Asia, some countries have bucked this trend, for example 65% of all air travel in the Philippines and 61% of all air travel in Thailand is made on low cost carriers.