Hannover’s summer capacity up 5%; has flights to 67 destinations in Q3

Hannover is unusual in not having flights by (U)LCCs easyJet, Ryanair or Wizz Air. This is despite the airport’s 24/7 operation (which is unusual in Germany), no slot restrictions, 22 million people in the catchment area (one of Germany’s largest) and the incentive scheme.

In 2025, 5.34 million passengers flew through Hannover’s doors. Traffic rose by around 2% year-over-year to the highest level since the pandemic. However, like so many airports in Germany, Hannover’s throughput has not recovered yet. Traffic was 15% lower than in 2019.

TUI fly Deutschland is the top airline

In Q3 2026 (July-September), Cirium schedule data shows that Hannover has 1.03 million one-way seats. Capacity rose by 5% year-over-year. Interestingly, the seasonality is considerable, with available seats in Q3 being 81% higher than in the first three months of the year. This reflects the capacity to outbound leisure destinations.

With 190,000 one-way seats, TUI is Hannover’s leading operator. This is somewhat unusual. Indeed, until the pandemic, Eurowings was the top carrier. Cirium shows that TUI fly has 24 non-stop routes in Q3. Compared to the same period last year, no new market has joined its peak summer map, but Antalya and Bodrum are no longer served.

Hannover benefits from being served by multiple flag carriers, including Aegean, Air France, Air Serbia, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, KLM, Lufthansa, SAS, SWISS and Turkish Airlines. They account for nearly a third of the airport’s peak summer capacity.

Eurowings is interesting, as it is now the airport’s third-largest operator, after TUI and the Lufthansa-Turkish Airlines leisure unit, SunExpress. 17 routes are served, including Erbil. New links exist to Alicante (5 May 2026; 2-weekly) and Glasgow (29 June 2026; 3-weekly), but the LCC ceased flying to Milan BGY in November 2025.

Antalya is by far the number one destination

Cirium shows that Hannover has flights to 67 destinations in Q3. They are in 22 countries. With 332,000 one-way seats, Turkey is the most-served market. It has considerably more capacity than the second-placed Spain (167,000). This is not just because of holiday hotspots, but also because of the Turkish diaspora. Indeed,14 airports in Turkey are served, more than any other nation from Hannover, with flights as far east as Diyarbakir and Gaziantep.

With 158,000 one-way seats, Antalya remains the leading destination. 60-weekly departures are available in August, provided by SunExpress (31), Corendon (10), Mavi Gök (7), Pegasus (7) and Freebird (5). A year ago, London LHR was in the top 10, but it has been replaced by Hurghada.