Ryanair is Birmingham’s top airline; Wizz Air has doubled in size in 1 year; Dublin top market

Situated in the West Midlands, Birmingham is the UK’s seventh-busiest airport based on 2024 traffic figures. According to the UK Civil Aviation Authority, it welcomed 12.8 million passengers. Its throughput was nearly 8% greater year-on-year, which was more than six busier facilities. It was its second-best year to date. The opening of easyJet’s base in 2024 helped.

Ryanair is Birmingham’s leading airline

Cirium’s schedule information for W25 shows that Birmingham has almost 2.9 million one-way seats, which has increased by 7% year-over-year. The arrival of Air Dolomiti in October 2025 helped. It operates from Frankfurt on behalf of Lufthansa. In the same month, Brussels Airlines pulled out.

Birmingham’s top 10 airlines have grown by 11%. Compared to W24, Turkish Airlines has fallen out of the top 10 list. It has been replaced by Wizz Air, which has 117% more seats. Wizz Air’s growth is because it has doubled its routes to six. Rome FCO flights started on 16 June 2025 (3-weekly), followed by Sibiu on 28 October (2-weekly). Suceava service begins on 15 December (3-weekly).

With 754,000 one-way seats, Ryanair remains the leading operator. It provides one in four of Birmingham’s capacity. It is the ULCC’s 33rd most-served airport out of the 200+ in its network in W25. It has 39 routes from the West Midlands airport during the winter. With a fifth of the seats, Dublin remains by far the leading market.

Compared to W24, and ignoring services that only operated at the start or end of that season, Ryanair has ceased flying to Agadir, Derry and Marrakech. However, three routes have been added. Rome CIA flights launched on 26 October 2025 (3-weekly), followed by Rovaniemi the next day (weekly to 2-weekly). Salzburg service will begin on 20 December (weekly).

Dublin is the most-served airport

Cirium indicates that Birmingham has non-stop flights to 102 airports in W25 (excluding seasonal hangers-on).  Brussels and Milan MXP are no longer served, while it has gained flights to Gibraltar, Milan LIN, Punta Cana, Rome CIA, Sibiu and Suceava.

The airports are in 36 countries. With 587,000 one-way seats, Spain is the leading nation, followed by the domestic market (339,000), Ireland (296,000), the Netherlands (169,000) and Germany (161,000).

None of its served airports are in the US or Canada. However, its network includes multiple long-haul destinations. Focusing on markets served by full-service airlines, these include Amritsar (Air India), Delhi (Air India), Doha (Qatar Airways), Dubai (with Emirates) and Jeddah (Saudia).

With 242,000 one-way seats, Dublin remains the most-served airport. Some 81-weekly one-way flights are available in December, provided by Aer Lingus (47) and Ryanair (34).