World's biggest low-cost airlines

Southwest Airlines remains the world's biggest low cost carrier (LCC), according to Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA).

The top five LCC rankings remain unchanged, but big moves have occurred further down the list.

IndiGo and US-based Spirit continue to rise up the board. Europe's Vueling has grown a remarkable 40 per cent measured in available seat kilometers/capacity with IndiGo and Lion Air each expanding 35 40 per cent.

Take a look at the world's biggest budget airlines... 

Southwest Airlines (Rank 1)

Country: United States
Capacity December 2012: 3.27 billion       
Capacity Dec 2011: 3.05 billion    
Percentage change: 7.3%

(Data: Representative sample week in December of each year.)

...

Ryanair (Rank 2)

Country: Ireland

Capacity December 2012: 1.47 billion      

Capacity December 2011: 1.59 billion                

Percentage change: -7.2%         

 ...

JetBlue Airways (Rank 3)

Country: United States

Capacity December 2012: 1.21 billion

Capacity December 2011: 1.18 billion      

Percentage change: 2.1%

...

easyJet (Rank 4)   

Country: United Kingdom

Capacity December 2012: 1.12 billion

Capacity December 2011: 1.05 billion

Percentage change: 6.4%

...

Gol (Rank 5)

Country: Brazil

Capacity December 2012: 913 million 

Capacity December 2011: 1 billion     

Percentage change: -9.3%         

...

Lion Airlines (Rank 6)

Country: Indonesia

Capacity December 2012: 810 million

Capacity December 2011: 602 million

Percentage change: 34.6%        

...

Jetstar Airways (Rank 7)

Country: Australia

Capacity December 2012: 732 million 

December 2011: 627 million      

Percentage change: 16.7%

...

Westjet (Rank 8)

Country: Canada

Capacity December 2012: 703 million

Capacity December 2011: 677 million

Percentage change: 3.9%

...

AirTran Airways (Rank 9)

Country: United States

Capacity December 2012: 593 million

Capacity December 2011: 704 million

Percentage change: -15.7%   

...

AirAsia Berhad (Rank 10)

Country: Malaysia

Capacity December 2012: 592 million

Capacity December 2011: 514 million

Percentage change: 15.2%

...

Indigo (Rank 11)

Country: India

Capacity December 2012: 489 million 

Capacity December 2011: 363 million

Percentage change: 34.6%  

...

Norwegian (Rank 12)

Country: Norway

Capacity December 2012: 460 million 

Capacity December 2011: 376 million 

Percentage change: 22.5%

...

Condor (Rank 13)

Country: Germany

Capacity December 2012: 400 million

Capacity December 2011: 408 million

Percentage change: -2.1%

...

Virgin America (Rank 14)

Country: United States    

Capacity December 2012: 387 million 

Capacity December 2011: 350 million 

Percentage change: 10.7%        

...

Spirit Airlines (Rank 15) 

Country: United States

Capacity December 2012: 373 million 

Capacity December 2011: 297 million

Percentage change: 25.3%        

...

Volaris (Rank 16)

Country: Mexico   

Capacity December 2012: 348 million 

Capacity December 2011: 305 million 

Percentage change: 14.3%        

...

Frontier Airlines (Rank 17)       

Country: United States

Capacity December 2012: 330 million 

Capacity December 2011: 363 million 

Percentage change: -9.2%

...

Wizz Air (Rank 18)

Country: Hungary

Capacity December 2012: 330 million

Capacity December 2011: 314 million

Percentage change: 4.8%

...

SpiceJet (Rank 19)

Country: India

Capacity December 2012: 313 million 

Capacity December 2011: 270 million 

Percentage change: 16.0%        

...

AirAsia X (Rank 20)

Country: Malaysia

Capacity December 2012: 306 million 

Capacity December 2011: 367 million

Percentage change: -16.7%