It was expected, but now it's a sure thing: Paris Orly will be the second base of Level, the long-haul low-cost carrier launched in March 2017 by the IAG group, parent company of British Airways, Iberia, Vueling and Aer Lingus. After starting out in Barcelona El Prat last July, Level will be offering flights to popular French destinations from 2 July 2018. On that day, the first flights will take off from Paris to Montreal - at a rate of three per week -, before flying the following day to Pointe-à-Pitre, served by four weekly flights. Then, at the end of the summer, two other routes will be launched to Fort de France on 3 September, with three flights a week, followed by New York Newark on 4 September, with four flights a week operated by the teams of Openskies, a subsidiary of British Airways.
To establish Level's base at Paris Orly, IAG will rely on Openskies crews and slotswhose brand will disappear and be absorbed by Level. However, to fill its aircraft, IAG is also counting on Vueling and its four aircraft based at Orly to supply Level's flights, as the Spanish airline is already doing at Barcelona. Vueling currently serves 17 destinations from Paris, which means just as many potential passengers for long-haul flights to New York, Montreal and the West Indies via Paris.
For its debut at Orly, Level will be using two brand new Airbus A330-200s, featuring an Economy class with 293 seats in a 2-4-2 configuration and a Premium Economy cabin with 21 seats in a 2-3-2 configuration. On sale from today, the flights are offered from 99 euros in Economy for a dry flight, including only cabin baggage. As with the low-cost model, passengers will have to add a supplement for a ticket including hold baggage and a meal. For passengers who do not choose this option, meals can also be ordered via the in-flight entertainment system screen and delivered instead.
For a starting price ranging from 429 euros to 469 euros depending on the destination, passengers in the Premium cabin will benefit from a wider seat, hold baggage and priority boarding, but will have to pay a supplement for a ticket including meals and ticket flexibility. Another additional cost for all passengers who wish to do so is access to a very high-speed WiFi connectionavailable from 8.99 euros.
With this 'à la carte' model and extremely competitive fares, Level is already enjoying great success in Barcelona, with a load factor of over 90 % according to IAG management. "Exceeding our forecastssays Willie Walsh, CEO of IAG. Take Level's Barcelona-Buenos Aires flight, for example. This could have been in competition with the one offered by Iberia between Madrid and the Argentinian capital. We expected this and were prepared to accept it. But we weren't: Level creates a new request and is capturing a whole segment of customers who, until now, did not travel by plane." The airlines serving the French West Indies - Air France, Air Caraïbes, Corsair and XL Airways - will no doubt be pleased to hear that Level will not be encroaching too much on their turf...
Looking to the future, the low-cost carrier already offers four destinations from Barcelona - Los Angeles, San Francisco (Oakland), Punta Cana and, therefore, Buenos Aires - and will be adding a fifth at the end of March/beginning of April 2018 with Boston, with three flights a week during the summer. In other news, a third Airbus A330-200 will be joining Level in Barcelona in summer 2018, heralding the addition of new destinations. Willie Walsh aims to grow the airline's fleet "up to 30 aircraft"within the next five years. The range of routes from Paris Orly should therefore be expanded, but Level also intends to establish itself at other European airports. Rome is at the top of the list, as Vueling has a base at Rome Fiumicino airport, as it does at Barcelona and Paris Orly.
The expected development of Level is a further materialisation of the the rise of long-haul low-cost air transport. The ambitions of thenew generation"In addition to Norwegian, which has opened a number of new routes in the UK, there are also a number of new destinations. a base at Paris Charles-de-Gaulle last summer. "Norwegian has proved that there is a demand for the long-haul low-cost segment, but it has not yet demonstrated the profitability of the model.says Willie Walsh. With maximum productivity and operating costs lower than those of Norwegian, and well below those of JoonI'm a great believer in Level's future."
