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If you're weighing up which airline to book with for your next trip, the carrier itself could make a bigger difference to your wallet than you'd think. A new study by AirAdvisor has ranked 23 European airlines by revenue per passenger kilometre, and the gap between the cheapest and priciest is striking.

 

Wizz Air comes out as Europe's cheapest airline overall, charging just €0.0433 per passenger. Two of the low-cost carriers most familiar to anyone flying in and out of Spain follow close behind, easyJet at €0.0521 and Ryanair at €0.0556. Finland's Finnair and Transavia round out the top five cheapest, at €0.0622 and €0.068 respectively, with Norwegian Air Shuttle and TAP Portugal also featuring near the bottom of the price scale.

 

Spain's own Iberia sits comfortably in the more affordable half of the table too, ranking 16th out of the 23 airlines studied at €0.0708 per passenger, putting it among the eight cheapest carriers on the continent.

 

At the other end of the scale, Widerøe, the largest regional airline across the Nordic countries, comes out as by far the most expensive, charging a hefty €0.32 per passenger. British Airways isn't far behind in second place at €0.0838, with Air France close behind at €0.085. Austrian Airlines and Lufthansa also feature among the priciest, at €0.085 and €0.0845, alongside Aegean Airlines, KLM, ITA Airways, SWISS and Aer Lingus, who complete the top ten most expensive.

 

It's a timely reminder for anyone budgeting ahead, especially with separate warnings this week that flights between the UK and Spain could become considerably pricier in the years ahead. Britain's official climate advisory body has suggested that a return trip to Alicante could cost around £150 more by 2050 if airlines are required to fund the environmental cost of their emissions.

 

For now, though, the AirAdvisor rankings offer a useful snapshot of where the real savings lie today. If keeping costs down matters more to you than legroom or a hot meal on board, sticking with the likes of Wizz Air, easyJet or Ryanair, or even Iberia, could still be your best bet.

 

 

Image: Markus Winkler