Discount Airlines Make Up 1 in 8 Flights Worldwide

Low-cost airlines such as Ryanair Holdings, JetBlue Airways Corp. and AirAsia account for 1 in 8 flights worldwide, double the number from before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a British report released Monday said.

Discount airlines operate 12% of the more than 2.27 million scheduled flights worldwide, according to figures from the Bedfordshire, England-based Official Airline Guide. The growth of low-cost carriers contributed to combined losses of $9.2 billion for U.S. network carriers last year and prompted consolidation among European airlines.

“They’re transforming aviation, forcing the large network carriers to cut costs and move toward setting up operations that can compete with the newcomers,” said Klaus Breil, a portfolio manager at Frankfurt, Germany-based Adig Investment, whose $6 billion under management includes Ryanair shares.

This month, airlines will have a potential 260 million seats for sale, the airline guide said. Low-cost airlines will account for just shy of 300,000 flights, or about 38 million seats. That’s 15% of all seats worldwide.