A budget airline named Level (founded 17 May 2017) has launched and is headquartered in Spain. Level’s 2 Airbus A330-200 aircraft are currently operated by Iberia using the IB flight code, and is planning to operate 3 more A330s by 2018. The airline is owned by International Airline Group (IAG), which also operates Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia and Vueling. The launch comes after Alitalia’s administration, and the airline aims to use the cheap long haul model offered by Norwegian.
The airline sold 52,000 fares after 2 days of launching. The airline currently has 5 destinations including Los Angeles, Oakland, Barcelona, Punta Cana and Buenos Aires and is considering expanding to Rome and Paris. It uses the Avois frequent flyer program and a slogan “It’s your world.”
When you look at the other 3 long haul budget airlines (Jetsar, Scopt and Norwegian), the all have 787s. That’s because fuel efficiency is key to having cheap tickets (although not the only factor). Level doesn’t. They operate A330s. How are they going to compete?
Well it depends, this is not the only factor. If these aircraft are borrowed from Iberia then they will save money that way which will pass over less cost to the customers resulting in lower air fares surely
But that’s a temporary saving of money. If Norwegian 787s operate for 20 years saving 10% fuel in comparison to the A330, it will save so much more money than the immediate cost of transferring the aircraft…
Well I am not an excecutive officer or something, so yeah.
But I have looked Into it and Iberia will operate the aircraft. This is much cheaper then purchasing your own aircraft but yes in the long term it may be better to buy fuel efficient aircraft however it may not be successful so usual for another airline in the company makes sense to minimise the costs should it be a failed venture
Well, there are exceptions. But how is Level, probably designed to compete with Norwegian Long Haul, with 3 A330s, going to compete against a dozens-sized 787 fleet?
