The Q1 2026 benchmarking report for airlines has just been published. Learn how the top 12 airlines perform across the digital space.

The latest Q1 2026 benchmarking report for airlines has just been published. It covers the largest 12 airlines, including Virgin Atlantic, EasyJet, British Airways, Delta Air Lines, Jet2.com and Jet2 Holidays, Ryanair, Aer Lingus, Air France, Wizz Air, United Airlines, Alaska Airlines, and American Airlines.

The research gives an inside track on who is winning the biggest share of voice online, and quantifies the gaps, risks and missed opportunities for other airlines to win brand exposure, drive online enquiries, and generate flight bookings. The report highlights year-on-year digital performance, plus winner and loser comparisons across 20+ online performance metrics and quantifies the gaps, risks and missed opportunities for airlines to win brand exposure, online growth and sales.

To see a preview and contents page of the Q1 report, click here. To get a copy of the full report and the key takeaways, please complete the enquiry form or schedule a call.

Q1 2026 WINNERS LEADERBOARD

For a glance into just 6 of the metrics, we evaluated these top 12 airlines on, check out our quick-look table below;

Continue reading for further detail on this quarter's best and poorest-performing airlines or request a copy of the report for the full review.

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What The Industry Research Report Covers

The 70+ pages of research benchmarks each retailer based on 50+ metrics and indicators of successful digital strategy, including organic visibility, domain authority, paid media ads, conversion performance, technical performance, site speed, universal search, content, social ads, accessibility, and mobile performance.  

Driving Optimal ROAS from Paid Media Channels

Some of the leading players in the space are high spenders on paid media channels such as Google, Bing & Facebook - but have a poor or sub-optimal conversion improvement strategy. Without an optimised, sophisticated conversion strategy that maximises the conversion rate, the return on investment is unsustainable or will underperform. Scaling spend on paid media is not achievable unless the conversion rate delivers optimal performance in the sector. Some in the space have paid media spend levels from 30k+ per month but dedicate minimal resources and budgets to conversion testing.  Given the cost per clicks on ad networks will continue to rise, we recommend spending at least 10% of your paid media budget on ongoing conversion optimisation testing schedules to ensure your paid media ROI maintains long-term viability, competitive advantage, and sustainability.

Pay-Per-Click Marketing

Pay-Per-Click marketing is constantly evolving, with more and more advertisers being forced to hand over a lot of control to Google's algorithms as the push for automation grows ever stronger. There are still key elements of control that we have though, the main one of these being budget which is ultimately something the algorithms can't take from you. That's why being smart with your budget and ad coverage is essential to achieving strong results and bettering what your competitors have to offer.

For Q1 2026, the average monthly budget wastage across these airlines was £90,034, with some of the top players in the market spending a considerable amount on areas and audiences unlikely to deliver a return. We can see this in more detail when looking at the average monthly cost per cost-per-click (CPC) amongst advertisers, with the average of this metric being £44 . This highlights how competitive the market is and how important it is to control your budgets effectively.

There are varying monthly ad budgets across the competitors in the report. While this gap highlights the competitive advantage that larger budgets can provide, it's not just about spending more; it’s about spending smarter. By focusing on driving efficiency in campaign management, targeting, and budget allocation, businesses with smaller budgets can still effectively compete with larger players. Investing in data-driven strategies and refining ad performance can help close the gap and maximise the return on every pound spent, enabling growth even in a competitive landscape. Relative to their spend, Alaska Airlines reported the lowest monthly cost-per-click (CPC) at £0, and Wizz Air has the highest at £419.

The report highlights the importance of budget efficiency by comparing monthly ad spend with estimated CPC in relation to your competitors, see who has the highest and lowest CPC. To maximise the effectiveness of your budget, it’s essential to focus on driving CPC down while maintaining or improving campaign performance. In this report, Delta Air Lines has the lowest estimate monthly ad spend at £36,700, and EasyJet has the highest at £2,480,000.

By optimising targeting, refining ad copy, and leveraging data to identify high-converting opportunities, you can ensure every click delivers maximum value. This approach not only stretches your budget further but also boosts your return on ad spend (ROAS), enabling you to achieve stronger results without simply increasing expenditure.

Technical Website Compliance

Savvy digital marketers know that having a technically sound website is an essential component of a successful fully integrated digital strategy - plus a site capable of maximising conversion performance. For airlines, an easy-to-navigate site can decrease bounce rates and increase website traffic. All airlines should regularly monitor their website for broken links and make updates to any inactive links to ensure they’re not directing visitors to dead ends.

In our previous audit, Alaska Airlines received the most 404 errors (75). This quarter, Alaska Airlines has increased their 404 errors to 139. However, the airline currently with the most 404 errors is Virgin Atlantic (171). Server or configuration issues can create unexpected 404 errors. If site directories are changed, files are misplaced, or permissions break, the website may incorrectly signal that a page doesn’t exist. These technical issues can be harder to spot but have a wide-reaching impact if not fixed quickly. 

Site Speed & Conversion Rate Performance

When  62% of consumers are less likely to convert if they have a negative mobile site experience, ensuring that your site is quick and easy to load makes a significant improvement on your overall conversion rates. As with ensuring your site is technically compliant, tyre and servicing brands must ensure their site experience is fast and efficient so users don't turn elsewhere.

In our last audit, Alaska Airlines received the slowest mobile site speed (1). This quarter, Alaska Airlines continues to score 1 for their mobile site speed, keeping them the airline to watch. Search engines consider mobile performance when ranking websites, which influences how users discover content. If a website loads slowly on mobile, it may appear lower in search results. Users often associate higher-ranking sites with better quality and relevance.

Building Competitive Advantage with Domain Authority

Domain authority is an essential metric for measuring the effectiveness of SEO performance, and helps create a reliable overall gauge of how effective your site is at achieving organic traffic, i.e. ‘free’ traffic that isn’t gained through sponsored ads. Airlines could look to collaborate with, and outreach to, local & national publications, and travel sites, in order to build their backlink profile, as well as improve referral traffic.

A ‘good’ DA really comes down to how your competitors are performing, however it’s generally considered average between 40 and 50, good between 50 and 60, and excellent above 60. In our last audit, American Airlines reported the lowest DA score (54). This quarter, American Airlines has increased their DA score to 80. Currently, the airline with the lowest DA score is Air France (62). From a competitive perspective, domain authority helps websites stand out in crowded markets. When multiple sites target similar keywords, the one with the stronger authority often has an advantage in search rankings. This can make the difference between appearing on the first page of results and further down.

Organic Performance – Mobile & Desktop

A strong organic performance is strategically important as it ensures your site ranks above competitors for key, transactional keywords. When 93% of your customers won’t go past the first page of Google, your absence or lack of targeting for essential keywords will cost you conversions. Though you may expect traffic across the travel sector to shrink, in response to the cost of living crisis, we've found all holiday sectors we specialise in have grown over the past 12 months. This could be down to consumers forgoing day to day treats in order to prioritise a holiday, or from customers heading straight to airline and provider websites in search of a cheaper deal from booking directly.

Four brands reported a drop in organic traffic on desktop, with EasyJet receiving the biggest loss (-89%). On mobile, 6 brands received a drop in organic traffic, with American Airlines reporting the biggest drop on this device, too (-63%). Optimising for mobile-first indexing is a crucial best practice, as search engines primarily assess the mobile version of a website. Pages should load quickly, display correctly on smaller screens and avoid intrusive elements that disrupt the user experience. Responsive design ensures content adapts seamlessly across devices without duplication.

Universal Search Opportunity

Google Universal Search Results is an evolving opportunity to make your pages visible on a SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Universal results often appear before traditional listings and are eye-catching for users. Universal search results refer to rankings on a SERP that are not the traditional ‘blue line’ Google link, and a retailer can appear for universal search results without being strong in standard rankings. 'Reviews' and 'people also ask' results are a great opportunity for airlines to improve trust, and answer key questions, without users even needing to (initially) leave the SERP.

EasyJet continues to secure the most Universal Search appearances (145,702) — an increase from 124,287 previously. The majority of their appearances came from ‘images’ (121,200).

The Longtail Keyword Opportunity

Longtail keywords are often considered high intent and potentially more likely to convert as a searcher is being more specific. Optimising for longtail keywords also puts your content strategy in a strong position to rank for retailer new search terms as they enter Google’s index. Airlines should take particular care to optimise for longtail keywords including high conversion-intent phrases, such as 'last minute flight New York' or 'fly to Boston via Dublin'.

EasyJet continues to secure the most longtail keyword appearances for position 3 (38,713) — a decrease from 39,783 previously. EasyJet also continues to secure the most appearances for positions 4–10 (84,005) — an increase from 82,565 previously. From a content planning perspective, longtail keywords provide endless topic opportunities. They reveal gaps in existing content and highlight what users are actively searching for. This allows websites to expand their content in a structured and user-focused way.

Facebook Adverts

With the number of Facebook users in the United Kingdom (UK) hitting over 44 million users in 2023, it is not surprising that companies have jumped at the opportunity to advertise on the social media platform. Facebook’s UK digital advertising revenue has been estimated to have breached 2.6b GB pounds in 2019.

We’ve included screenshots of Jet2.com and Jet2 Holidays’ sponsored Facebook posts. This UK airline company should reduce the amount of text per post to help make their content quicker and easier to read.  

Top Social Shares & Content

When it comes to social media and on-site content strategies, it is important to release content that has a longer shelf life. An article is considered 'Evergreen' if it has maintained its relevancy to an audience for longer. It's great for your retailer engagement, but great for Google too, who will recognise content which achieves traffic over a long period of time. Airlines can create content based on flying, general travel information, or even about popular destinations that are likely to grab attention from social media users.

Air France secured the most Facebook Likes (7.2m), and Delta Air Lines secured the most Instagram followers (1.6m). Facebook was the most popular social media platforms of all brands. EasyJet received the highest total engagement rate (237,672) and the highest average engagement (819).

Website Readability & Accessibility

20% of people in the UK have a disability – 2 million of which are people living with sight loss. In addition, 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women have some degree of colour vision deficiency. When websites are not designed to meet these needs, retailers lose customer interest as they turn elsewhere. Airlines must be accessible for all, as poor digital accessibility on their sites may suggest to users that their flights themselves may be an uncomfortable experience.

In our previous report, EasyJet flagged the most accessibility alerts (50) and 78 contrast errors. This quarter, EasyJet continues to report 50 accessibility alerts and 78 contrast errors. Websites should regularly monitor accessibility alerts using reliable auditing tools. Automated tools can quickly highlight common issues such as missing alt text, poor contrast or incorrect heading structures. However, best practice is to combine automated checks with manual testing for more complex issues. 

GET THE FULL 70-PAGE Q1 2026 REPORT

To get a copy of the full report, please complete the enquiry form. If you want to talk to us about accelerating your digital performance, please call us on 01543 410014 or schedule a call with Rory Tarplee.