International Airlines Group (IAG) will expand its discount
Level brand into the short-haul market.
The short-haul operation will be based out of Vienna and
will fly under an Austrian air certificate. It will technically be a separate
entity than the Level long-haul operation, which is based in Barcelona.
Level will base four aircraft out of Vienna and will fly to
14 destinations from the Austrian capital by the end of the summer. The first
flights, to Palma and London Gatwick, take to the air on July 17.
Flights will be operated with single-class Airbus A321
aircraft that have 210 economy seats.
IAG's decision to move Level into the short-haul Austrian
market appears to be a response to ultralow-cost carrier Ryanair, which in
March took a 24.9% stake in the Austrian leisure carrier Laudamotion. It plans
to raise that stake to 75% pending approval from regulatory authorities.
Laudamotion, which was created this year from the remnants of the grounded
carrier Niki, is flying 65 routes this summer from bases in Vienna, Zurich and
six German cities.
IAG launched Level last summer to compete with Norwegian,
Wow, Eurowings and others in the growing low-cost transatlantic market.
IAG is the parent of British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus and
Vueling.