Air Serbia and Croatia Airlines have secured positions among Europe’s sixty largest airlines this summer season, measured by available seat capacity — a key indicator in the aviation industry. For the 2025 summer schedule, Air Serbia ranks as the 49th largest carrier on the continent, while Croatia Airlines holds the 58th spot.
Air Serbia’s ranking places it just behind airBaltic, Icelandair, and Air Dolomiti, yet ahead of Discover Airlines, Nordwind Airlines, and TUIfly. Meanwhile, Croatia Airlines trails Aeroitalia, Utair, and Luxair but surpasses Air Corsica, TAROM, and KM Malta Airlines in available seats.
When including non-European airlines operating in Europe, the Middle East’s “Big Three” — Emirates, Qatar Airways, and Etihad Airways — offer greater seat capacity in the region than both national carriers from the former Yugoslavia. Other international competitors, such as Flydubai, China Southern Airlines, Saudia, Royal Air Maroc, and Nouvelair, also rank above Croatia Airlines in seat availability.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Air Serbia has pursued an ambitious fleet and route expansion strategy, boosting its summer capacity by 55.5% compared to 2019. This growth translates to an additional 1.3 million seats introduced over the last six years. Conversely, Croatia Airlines has followed a more cautious growth path, increasing its capacity by 6.3% this summer relative to 2019, adding 132,000 seats.
At the recent CAPA Airline Leader Summit in Athens, Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, highlighted the company’s strategic approach: “We took the risk. One was with strategy, the other with internal resources. We used Covid as an opportunity to grow and insourced eighteen aircraft in the last three years and launched forty destinations. We also did not go down the path of hiring a consultancy firm for a post-Covid strategy but upgraded the next generation of our managers to the senior level to start making decisions.”
Ryanair continues to dominate as Europe’s largest airline this summer, offering over 142.2 million seats. It is followed by easyJet, Turkish Airlines, Lufthansa, Wizz Air, British Airways, Air France, Pegasus Airlines, Aeroflot, Vueling, and KLM. Among foreign carriers, Emirates leads with more than 14.1 million seats available in Europe, followed by United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Qatar Airways, American Airlines, and Air Canada.
At the other end of the spectrum, Air Montenegro ranks among Europe’s smallest carriers, positioned just behind airlines such as Tus Airways, Animawings, and Danish Air Transport.
