Anounced by Willie Walsh at BCN Airport today.

http://www.lavanguardia.com/economia/20 ... -prat.html

How creative, first AF/KL with 'Boost', now IAG with 'Level'. Waiting for LH to come up with 'Power' as their new low-cost brand. Sad they can't come up with something more creative than these generic English names.

Wow, what a sad, uninspiring name for an airline. It bothers me greatly that someone has been paid to come up with such a name. I can still hope for a nice livery, but given Iberia's new colors (colors? what colors?) I should probably not expect too much...

well at least LH has "Eurowings" .....

I wonder if this is a hint to the envisaged livery.....

https://www.flylevel.com/

Does anyone know more? Isn't there a IB a330 in France being repainted?

oldannyboy wrote:

Wow, what a sad, uninspiring name for an airline. It bothers me greatly that someone has been paid to come up with such a name. I can still hope for a nice livery, but given Iberia's new colors (colors? what colors?) I should probably not expect too much...

There's a mockup in the article, under the video ad at the top. It's not pretty, and looks like something a marketing undergrad threw together for a project.

Still not sure why they didn't just call the darn thing 'Vueling'.

So when pilots gain enough experience and take off, they level up?

Would imagine if its cheap enough no one will care what it says on the outside of the plane.

However from an enthusiasts point of view, I hope the colours are more inspiring than the name. Although it seems not.

What a boring name and livery.

Some details in the flight global article below, the aircraft will seat 314 passengers (21 premium economy and 293 economy) with cockpit and cabin crew from Iberia (initially). Flights will start in June and routes include BCN to OAK, LAX, EZE and PUJ.
https://www.flightglobal.com/news/artic ... el-435290/

gotta be a joke right?

Low cost airline = low cost paint job !

Who came up with such a hideous uniform and livery? Just seeing WW wearing it is cringeworthy.

IAG are clearly trying to go after young homeless people here or 'lifestyle' brand. That said I wonder what this brand adds compared to Vueling who are well known and established.

This is a perfect recipe for disaster or a brand that may not last.

¿When start the tickets sale?

runway23 wrote:

Who came up with such a hideous uniform and livery? Just seeing WW wearing it is cringeworthy.

Judging by the look on his face he doesn't like the outfit either.

What a disgrace, given their marketing dept experience this is the best IAG can come up with? Almost lost for words.

If I were drinking coffee right now it would be all over my keyboard. Is that really the livery? It screams cheap, but not in a good way. Looks like they got someone on Fiverr do the graphics job. For all of five euros.

readytotaxi wrote:

What a disgrace, given their marketing dept experience this is the best IAG can come up with? Almost lost for words.

There might actually be a marketing strategy behing it. Cheap sounding and looking brands are associated with low prices which is what the target customers are looking for.

Jetty wrote:

readytotaxi wrote:

What a disgrace, given their marketing dept experience this is the best IAG can come up with? Almost lost for words.

There might actually be a marketing strategy behing it. Cheap sounding and looking brands are associated with low prices which is what the target customers are looking for.

Cheap is fine, but as a customer, I would wonder if cheap means being shipped in a box in the hold.

And the uniforms? Just laughing at the poor sod on the left in the pic.

Can't wait to listen to ATC:

ATC: Level 3741, climb flight level 350, report level

A/C: Level 3741, flight level 350

A/C: Level 3741, level 350

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-39301239

What a dreadful concept.

Tickets on sale at Iberia's website.

IB 2601/2 BCN-Buenos Aires 2,4,6
IB 2611/2 BCN-Punta Cana 3,6
IB 2621/2 BCN-Oakland 2,5,7
IB 2623/4 BCN-LAX 4,7

" Dreadful", "Dull", "Boring".... do you honestly think they have not invested hugely in this and had some of the best PR and imaging departments behind this ? I know its not glitzy or jazzy, but I am sure they know what they are doing and will know a lot more about focus group demand than the average poster on here.
Its not even started yet so give it a chance.

Is there any philosophical explanation for level? I can understand "HOP!", even Jump but what is the meaning of level?

It makes me even nervous. Airline names should always have something that suggests an upward movement, e.g. all the logo's (LH etc.) on the tail-fin.
I associate level with "on the same level" or "leveled out", exactly how they presented their A330 in that picture.

Just imagine their first take-off-roll: at the end of the runway the captain will speak to the passengers and say: "this is usually the moment where I pull the stick. Our slogan, however, is "level". So, I leave it as it is and say "good-bye, thank you for travelling with Level!"

shankly wrote:

Can't wait to listen to ATC:

ATC: Level 3741, climb flight level 350, report level

A/C: Level 3741, flight level 350

A/C: Level 3741, level 350

:'))))))) I am waiting for the first airline to call itself "Roger", this will be great fun as well.

Initially I didn't get that this new brand is specifically for longhaul, it's only in the link and only in Spanish. Nevertheless I don't understand why they didn't just use the Vueling brand. What's the Point in having multiple different LCC names?

These minimalist designs are all "in" at the moment, they appear popular with the younger audience thanks to Apple's influence and can be marketed in a number of ways thanks to their non-restrictive look. The name and livery are basic but the whole idea of this airline is to compete on price and price alone, those headline fares of EUR99 will do more to spark an interest than an interesting name or cool livery.

Those uniforms are seriously ugly though, reminds me of the original easyJet uniform or any cheap uniform from the European low cost boom of 2002-2005.

A350 wrote:

... I don't understand why they didn't just use the Vueling brand. ...

The Vueling brand has suffered self inflicted damage due to a raft of summer cancellations and ignoraance of Articles 8 and 9 amongst others of EU reg EC 261:2004 prompting the UK CAA

"Vueling also faces CAA action for its approach to providing passengers care and assistance during disruption"

http://www.caa.co.uk/News/Five-major-ai ... d-flights/

They also need to avoid the perception that passengers could be traveling long haul on Vueling 230 seat A321 aircraft sardine hell.

The name sounds a bit like some one from Iberia did sent a suggestions to call the airline "Leve" and the guy at IAG thought he meant "Level".

I don't understand all the complaining. This actually has more color than most of the other start ups or even legacy carriers. And billboard titles in nice large geometric letters. And the 2 colors involved are kind of unique and not the usual shardes of red or blue. I'll be the first to admit that I kind of like it, but I do understand that the forum rules on Airliners.net require you to hate any new livery.

seahawk wrote:

The name sounds a bit like some one from Iberia did sent a suggestions to call the airline "Leve" and the guy at IAG thought he meant "Level".

So far the most logic explanation for this strange name. Maybe they used MS Word when exchanging the ideas and forgot to change language in the settings and before printing out the autocorrect function kicked in...

A350 wrote:

What's the Point in having multiple different LCC names?

My thoughts exactly. Why did Air France/KLM name their long haul LCC Boost when they already got Transavia? Why not just call it Transavia Long Haul? Same thing applies here.

Oh god what a horrible livery and name, but mostly livery. Would've looked better painted all white.

shankly wrote:

Can't wait to listen to ATC:

ATC: Level 3741, climb flight level 350, report level

A/C: Level 3741, flight level 350

A/C: Level 3741, level 350

WIN!

Birdwatching wrote:

... talking about complaining. What happened to that engine? Is this silver ring a PIP? Or is it required to keep that aircraft .... level :')))))))))

Have a nice weekend.

shamrock350 wrote:

These minimalist designs are all "in" at the moment, they appear popular with the younger audience thanks to Apple's influence and can be marketed in a number of ways thanks to their non-restrictive look. ...

Knowing the brand for an hour now it actually memorizes very well, and the squares and rectangles look maybe more mathematical and abstract than cheap. I would associate it rather with a software than an airline, though.

N14AZ wrote:

seahawk wrote:

The name sounds a bit like some one from Iberia did sent a suggestions to call the airline "Leve" and the guy at IAG thought he meant "Level".

So far the most logic explanation for this strange name. Maybe they used MS Word when exchanging the ideas and forgot to change language in the settings and before printing out the autocorrect function kicked in...

Level is also how spaniards pronounce LEBL (BCN). Not many people know icao codes, though.

I don't understand why they picked a name that sounds horrible when a native spanish speaker tries to say it: Lebel

There are so many spanish names, which would resemble the brand a lot better - combined with a funky livery and stylish uniforms, it could have been a LCC with a certain cool factor, which people want to try. The spanish culture is so rich, so I am kinda disappointed they didnt use any element of it.

A330freak wrote:

https://twitter.com/AirlineFlyer/status ... 9205252096

Nobody has mentioned these are exactly the same seats IB have on their A330 fleet.

So basically, IB are just removing business from these aircraft, keeping PE and Y the same. No effort to move seating from 2-4-2 to 3-3-3 which wouldn't have been unexpected or surprising given it's an LCC.

Add the fact that these flights are operated by IB crew at first and it's hard to imagine how Level will manage to compete effectively with Norwegian given than Norwegian have a more efficient aircraft and most likely lower crew and operational costs.

Makes me wonder if IAG are really serious about this airline. Worse case, if Level is a dud, you just have to put business class back in, repaint and the aircraft can fly again for IB.

I suppose there's also the chance the Level might order/receive another type of plane (787?) or have differently configured 330s in the future.

runway23 wrote:

..Makes me wonder if IAG are really serious about this airline.....

It appears to me to be a test of economy and premium economy 2 class long haul services and if successful, we'll see similar services popping up at other IAG bases such as LGW, DUB, MAN.

Do you think they'll bring in different variants of their livery over time?
Looking at their website http://www.flylevel.com/ I thought these geometric logos on the left could later be used for alternative liveries applied in the same way the blue-green square has been applied to the A330 in the first renderings.

Kind of like how B6 has a bunch of different tailfins. If that turned out true it could actually become rather interesting...

If you are nice you can see a bit Gaudi influence in the geometric design on the website.

Looks to me they are going after the young market. Uniform, branding etc. Looks very holiday rep to me - club 18-30. Don't like the name, don't like the livery. Seems very uninspiring but then, if they are low cost this clearly applies to budgets across the board hence the brand reflecting that.

runway23 wrote:

Who came up with such a hideous uniform and livery?

Don't tell me, the guys in the blue shirts are the pilots...

Wish they would have VIVA re-started:

I take it if this airline is using IB crews then it's also using IB's AOC?

by738 wrote:

" Dreadful", "Dull", "Boring".... do you honestly think they have not invested hugely in this and had some of the best PR and imaging departments behind this ? I know its not glitzy or jazzy, but I am sure they know what they are doing and will know a lot more about focus group demand than the average poster on here.
Its not even started yet so give it a chance.

Nobody is criticizing the business plan here mate.
All we are saying is that the name and livery are a mere disaster.
And the fact that -as you quite rightly point out - they have not invested hugely in this and had some of the best PR and imaging departments behind this ?
really adds to the insult, if so. A ten year old could come up with such a shambolic design concept and colour matching. Not to mention how incongruous that thick square(and the lettering too) is in relation to the flowing lines of the aircraft.
I am still hoping it's just a bad joke. This makes Eurowings look classy.
I am really wondering why they just didn't go for a well-established and pan-European brand like Vueling....

ARGHHH! THIS IS BLOODY AWFUL!

I really want this venture to fail. The name is meaningless to everyone, Spanish and English speakers alike, plus everyone else who is in existence. It's also confusing for ATC when pilots detail their flying height.

The livery is one of the worst I've ever seen. I kind of like the square but the rest is beyond hideous. It makes the newish Iberia livery actually look classy!

On the flipside, the website design placeholder is decent and actually artistic. I agree with others on here that it does have elements of 20th century art. I don't know why the livery and design don't reflect that instead of this monstrosity.

What were they thinking?!? I want to cry. It's that bad.

They had a chance to either create a new pan-European low cost long haul brand or smartly utilise an existing brand like Vueling. They also could've thought ahead to the potential for Catalan independence and set up a base for Iberia (Express?) to operate a low(er?) cost service which would be ideally positioned to serve the significant market that would be created after independence.

What is clear is that IAG's management have been in power far too long. The company needs a change of direction from their to-bone cost cutting, bland corporatism, poor treatment of staff, uncaring attitude to customers, disdain towards frequent flyers and so on.

In my view this is the epitome of neoliberal corporatism, its bloated corpse refusing to die, despite being already dead.

Down to a low level of inventiveness.

oldannyboy wrote:

Wow, what a sad, uninspiring name for an airline. It bothers me greatly that someone has been paid to come up with such a name. I can still hope for a nice livery, but given Iberia's new colors (colors? what colors?) I should probably not expect too much...

They could have chosen a worse name -- "Inverted," "Stall," "Descent" or "Freefall" are a few names that come to mind.

The photo of the group is hilarious - they look like they are awaiting sentencing.

I just checked a fare - if you don't plan on wearing any clothes on your trip to Barcelona, you can get a round trip ticket - one bag in cabin - between OAK and BCN for $299! I might have to love this airline - if I move to LA or Oakland

If I try to book at random dates from EZE to BCN roundtrip at the airline site, all it gives me are flights from Iberia, going first to MAD and then connecting. I guess it's still early and buggy, anybody else has this problem?

If you look at it from a corporate perspective, it's quite a smart move by IAG.

They're testing the water with an entirely new brand but by using existing group resources in its first year they are significantly reducing the investment risk.

If it fails, there's relatively little effort required to close it down as the aircraft and crews are IB and passengers can be accommodated on other IAG airlines.

IAG may not win many plaudits for creativity but financially it's a good way to try a new business whilst minimising risk.