Which LCCs publish their schedule the earliest?

Last week, abc27 reported that Frontier Airlines has not published its schedule beyond April 13, 2026. At the time of writing, that’s a schedule horizon of less than three months. The Engine Cowl examines how this compares to other airlines.

Full-service carriers typically publish schedules 330 to 360 days ahead, while low-cost carriers vary more in timing, often releasing schedules in longer segments based on International Air Transport Association (IATA) seasons.

What determines when the schedule is published?

There are several factors for LCCs to consider. On one hand, publishing the schedule earlier allows airlines to secure advance bookings, which is helpful for cash flow. Customers booking a year or more in advance may even be less price-elastic in return for the certainty of locking in their travel plans.

On the other hand, there are downsides to early publication. First, the airline must weigh uncertainty around its fleet plan and the timing of aircraft deliveries. Second, data on route performance for demand forecasting may be limited. Third, if schedules have to be reworked after initial publication, early-booking passengers may see their travel plans disrupted.

Perhaps most decisively, scheduling teams often have to manage workload across multiple seasons and may simply be more focused on flights closer to departure. The emergence of AI schedule optimisation tools will help to speed up the initial schedule design process, at least partially alleviating this challenge.

When is it important to publish the schedule further in advance?

The importance of publishing in advance will depend on each airline’s typical booking window. Markets with a longer booking horizon, such as leisure or long-haul routes, are more critical to have on sale in advance.

Short domestic routes, however, will book very few passengers until closer to departure. Publishing such routes a year in advance can arguably be a somewhat academic exercise.

In competitive markets, airlines may also want to accelerate publication in order to offer flights for sale ahead of their competitors.

Which LCCs publish their schedule the earliest?

The Engine Cowl looks at how many days ahead the world’s fifteen largest LCCs by revenue currently have their schedules on sale.

Jet2 is the hero with its schedule on sale through to October 2027. With a heavily leisure-focused network, its package holiday business, and relatively long booking windows, this makes sense for the airline.

The regional differences between airlines are stark. While Frontier Airlines is an outlier with just 84 days on sale, US-based LCCs generally tend to release schedules later than their global counterparts. The three largest European LCCs, Ryanair, easyJet, and Wizz Air, all offer flights for sale until early 2027, while none of the three-largest US-based LCCs have published their schedule beyond September 2026.