Located in the heart of continental Europe, Germany is a key market for all kinds of transport. Indeed, the nation has its fair share of long-distance bus and train routes serving both domestic and international destinations, with air travel, of course, playing a key role in keeping the country connected as well. In recent years, however, ongoing industrial disputes have seen German airports plagued by strikes.
Nonetheless, Germany remains an incredibly important market in the modern commercial aviation industry, with a wide variety of low-cost, leisure, charter, legacy, and full-service airlines serving its many airports, which range from major hubs to distant secondary facilities. With this in mind, let’s take a look at the five airlines offering the most seats on flights to, from, and within Germany in 2025.
5
SunExpress
9,199,764 seats on German routes in 2025
According to data made available by Cirium, an aviation analytics company, leisure carrier SunExpress
is Germany’s fifth-largest airline by scheduled seats in 2025, with almost 9.2 million available on routes to and from the country. The carrier’s primary function is to connect German airports with Turkish destinations, and this represents a lucrative market, given the large Turkish population in Germany.
Photo: Wirestock Creators | Shutterstock
SunExpress is a Turkish airline that was established as a joint venture between German and Turkish flag carriers Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines in October of 1989, with flights commencing the following year. According to ch-aviation, the carrier has an all-Boeing narrowbody twinjet fleet that consists of 55 737-700s and 17 737 MAX 8s. It also has orders for 43 more units of the latter, as well as 30 MAX 10s.
Given its focus as a leisure carrier offering low fares on routes from Turkey (Germany is a key market but other countries are also served), it is unsurprising to see that SunExpress favors one-class all-economy configurations on all of its present aircraft. Indeed, aeroLOPA shows that both its 737-800s and 737 MAX 8s have 189 seats onboard, with seat pitches as low as 29 inches in certain rows.
Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock
Looking at a snapshot of SunExpress’ German operations in March 2025, we can see that its most frequently served route connects Düsseldorf Airport (DUS) with its hub in Antalya (AYT). This route has between two and four flights a day in each direction, demonstrating strong demand. Other key German routes for SunExpress include Berlin (BER) to Antalya and Frankfurt Airport (FRA) to Izmir (ADB).
4
Condor
11,255,160 seats on German routes in 2025
Another leisure airline with a significant presence on routes to, from, and within Germany this year is Condor
, which has scheduled more than 11.2 million seats on such flights across the whole of 2025. Unlike SunExpress, this carrier is based in Germany itself, and has its headquarters in the Hessian town of Neu Isenburg. Condor was formed in 1955 as Deutsche Flugdienst, and began flying in 1956.
Another way in which Condor differs from SunExpress is the fact that it serves long-haul destinations in addition to its short-haul network. This is evidenced by the presence of widebodies such as the Airbus A330-900 from the A330neo family in its fleet. As noted in the video embedded above, these twinjets were among the first to receive Condor’s distinct new livery, which features colorful striped patterns.
The airline currently flies 18 A330-900s, and has another three examples of the type on order. Despite being a leisure-focused airline, Condor chose a more premium interior for its A330neos, including business class flatbeds with direct aisle access. On the narrowbody side of things, the airline flies 10 A320s, two A320neos (15 on order), 13 A321s, six A321neos (22 on order), and eight Boeing 757-300s.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying
This month, Condor is operating a limited amount of domestic flights, connecting its Frankfurt (FRA) base with Berlin (BER), Hamburg (HAM), and Munich (MUC). However, international traffic is the carrier’s bread and butter, with 39 flights scheduled in each direction between Frankfurt and the Mexican resort destination of Cancún (CUN) in March 2025. On the short-haul side, it will also be flying more than daily on average from Frankfurt to Gran Canaria (LPA) and Tenerife (TFS).
3
Ryanair
20,902,204 seats on German routes in 2025
Officially, Ryanair
is an Irish airline, with the low-cost giant based just outside the capital city of Dublin in the suburban town of Swords. However, as the carrier has grown, so has its network of operating bases, and, now, it is very much a European airline with a relatively even spread of bases and point-to-point routes located all over the continent. Germany is among its largest markets, with 20.9 million seats.
Data from ch-aviation shows that the fleet of the Ryanair Group as a whole, which also includes subsidiary airlines such as Buzz, Lauda Europe, Malta Air, and Ryanair UK, currently consists of almost 600 aircraft, with the vast majority of these being Boeing 737s. The carrier’s preference for the US manufacturer’s twin-engine narrowbody family is set to continue, with outstanding orders for 185 737 MAX jets.
While Germany is large enough to warrant other carriers to operate domestic flights, Cirium’s data for March 2025 shows that, currently, Ryanair is not operating any internal routes within the country. In fact, this is the case for the entire year, with Ryanair choosing not to compete with the nation’s compelling high-speed rail alternatives and Lufthansa’s domestic network that offers long-haul connections.
Photo: Jake Hardiman | Simple Flying
As such, all 20.9 million of Ryanair’s German seats are offered on international routes to and from the country. A key destination on this front is London Stansted (STN), which it serves from German locations such as Berlin, Bremen (BRE), Cologne/Bonn (CGN), Frankfurt Hahn (HHN), Hamburg, and Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden (FKB). Palma de Mallorca (PMI) is also popular among Ryanair’s German passengers.
2
Eurowings
27,409,564 seats on German routes in 2025
Second on the list is another low-cost carrier, namely Düsseldorf-based operator Eurowings
. The carrier is a wholly owned subsidiary of the wider Lufthansa Group, and flies both domestically and internationally from its German bases, offering more than 27.4 million seats this year in the process. The airline was founded 35 years ago, in February 1994, and began flying just under a year later, in January 1995.
Photo: M_Kaempfer | Shutterstock
Eurowings’ fleet has 98 aircraft, including those flown by subsidiary Eurowings Europe, with this figure consisting of 32 A319s, 47 A320s, 8 A320neos, six A321s, and five A321neos. Going forward, Eurowings is set to break the Airbus monopoly in its fleet with an order for 40 Boeing 737 MAX 8s. Despite being a low-cost carrier, the airline does offer a short-haul business class product with blocked middle seats, and can accommodate varying loads with its flexible cabin configurations.
Eurowings has a considerable presence on some of Germany’s key domestic air routes, and its busiest internal corridor this month connects Berlin with Stuttgart Airport (STR). Indeed, with 136 flights scheduled in each direction on this route, Eurowings operates more than four round trips a day on average. This puts it just ahead of Stuttgart to Hamburg (132 flights) and Berlin to Cologne/Bonn (122).
Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock
Internationally, Eurowings primarily caters to leisure destinations on account of its low-cost model. As such, it is unsurprising to see Mallorca consistently rank among its top foreign destinations, with flights from bases such as Cologne/Bonn and Hamburg. However, an interesting quirk of Eurowings’ international network is the fact that its flights to London serve Heathrow Airport (LHR), as opposed to the more traditional low-cost hubs of Luton (LTN) and Stansted (STN).
1
Lufthansa
71,415,916 seats on German routes in 2025
It will come as no surprise to see that Germany’s top airline by scheduled seat capacity in 2025 is, of course, flag carrier Lufthansa
. The Star Alliance founding member has penciled in almost 71.5 million seats on flights to, from, and within its homeland this year, which accounts for almost 28% of the grand total of 255,589,202 seats offered by all airlines put together on German routes.
Lufthansa’s fleet consists of 303 aircraft, with the narrowbody side of things being accounted for by the Airbus A319, A320, A320neo, A321 (including the rare original A321-100 variant), and A321neo models, as well as six CRJ1000ERs on lease from CityJet. As for widebodies, the carrier flies both Airbus and Boeing designs, such as the A330, A340, A350, A380, 747, and 787 (it also has the 777X on order).
Domestically speaking, Lufthansa has a considerable presence in the German market. While high-speed rail offers a palatable point-to-point alternative to flying, Lufthansa’s long-haul flights from Germany are largely limited to departures from its hubs at Frankfurt and Munich. As such, the carrier operates a huge number of feeder flights to connect other markets to its long-haul network, with more than 400 monthly round trips between Berlin and Frankfurt using mainline aircraft alone.
Photo: Joe Kunzler | Simple Flying
Internationally, on the short-haul side of things, London Heathrow Airport sees the most flights, with as many as nine Lufthansa flights a day from its Munich hub, and some 12 from Frankfurt Airport. As for long-haul traffic, Lufthansa’s most frequently served non-European route at present is Munich to Tel Aviv, with two flights a day. However, Frankfurt to Chicago has the most seats, with 15,854 in March.