Will LEVEL continue on adding flights to the US, like FortLauderdale, Miami, Orlando?

I hope they add more frequencies before routes. I flew on their BCN-LAX flight last month, and it was packed. However, even though the flight is only 2x/wk, I got an amazing deal (better than Norwegian), so I'm not sure how profitable they are. That being said, their A330 is very comfortable, clean, the IFE works great and they have the advantage of advertising through IB. That being said, they are opening their Orly base next month, so we'll see where their priorities are over the coming months. I don't know if they'll try to step on Iberia's toes too much, but they do have a few cities out of BCN they could target like EWR, IAD (or BWI), FLL, MCO, GRU, MEX, etc...

I hope someone is taken over the former Air Berlin Routes from/to TXL ! Level would be a nice fit with flights to FLL/JFK/LAX

Their main "growth" this summer is taking over the existing BA Openskies operation out of Paris, along with the AOC and the workforce, replacing the aircraft with new A330ceos and restructuring the schedule. At least it will stop people saying that Level has no AOC!

Andy33 wrote:

Their main "growth" this summer is taking over the existing BA Openskies operation out of Paris, along with the AOC and the workforce, replacing the aircraft with new A330ceos and restructuring the schedule. At least it will stop people saying that Level has no AOC!

After ORY, I think the next base is most likely to be FCO. IIRC, IAG has already indicated this. Beyond that, MAN must be a possibility.

Geminijets101 wrote:

Will LEVEL continue on adding flights to the US, like FortLauderdale, Miami, Orlando?

DY isn't doing MAD nor BCN out of MCO (yet)... don't really know the demand, but Spain may be a market where Level can get the jump on them for IAG.

TedToToe wrote:

Andy33 wrote:

Their main "growth" this summer is taking over the existing BA Openskies operation out of Paris, along with the AOC and the workforce, replacing the aircraft with new A330ceos and restructuring the schedule. At least it will stop people saying that Level has no AOC!

After ORY, I think the next base is most likely to be FCO. IIRC, IAG has already indicated this. Beyond that, MAN must be a possibility.

I'd be surprised if they came to UK. I think IAG sees the UK as BAs territory and as good feeding for Aer Lingus. Plus with Virgin and Thomas Cook does MAN actually need another airline doing US routes? I don't think so myself.

Hard to predict...

They are adding the 3rd aircraft to Barcelona this August and that will mainly mean boosting EZE to 9x weekly. This route is operated by them alone after Aerolineas dropped. I think this is the right decision, the prices for that route are not 100% low-cost, rather just similar to what IB offers from MAD. They just keep to the minimum LAX and OAK (where the fierce competence against DY must be meaning terrible looses), inaugurated BOS, which is doing well.... so we'll see what the future brings. They talked lots about heading East at some point from Barcelona, probably Tokio but that may depend on bilateral agreements and some other paperwork which I am not sure if they eventually go through. On the other hand, Iberia keeps an open-application to hire Japanese-crews for its current route to NRT (from MAD), but taking into account all Level flights from BCN are operated by IB's crews, this could also mean they are considering their options for the BCN-NRT.

When ORY was announced, they also commented FCO was on the cards. However, I think increasing frequencies could be more likely than deploying more and more routes which may not be profitable everywhere, especially with the oil prices rising.

I have the feeling LEVEL is slowing down a little bit until all DY situation gets some more clear.

On July 2nd, they launch thrice weeily ORY-YUL.

I wouldn't be surprised if they add some routes to the Caribbean, both from BCN and ORY. They briefly operated BCN-PUJ, and there are rumours about Cancun. IBE presence on typical holiday-routes to the Caribbean and Mexico is minimal, so LEVEL could also be the tool to head back to some ports which are 100% leisure, namely Punta Cana, Cancún, Varadero, Havana?

BCN-MIA on LV would be nice, could siphon some traffic from AA/UX/IB MAD-MIA. Only thing though is that DY flies BCN-FLL. IIRC MIA is the largest US gateway out of Spain, even slightly more than JFK.

Irehdna wrote:

BCN-MIA on LV would be nice, could siphon some traffic from AA/UX/IB MAD-MIA. Only thing though is that DY flies BCN-FLL. IIRC MIA is the largest US gateway out of Spain, even slightly more than JFK.

Very logical route. However, I am not sure if LEVEL could step in with the current 7x weekly operation AA offers. There might be some internal OneWorld agreements within.

Jerry123 wrote:

TedToToe wrote:

Andy33 wrote:

Their main "growth" this summer is taking over the existing BA Openskies operation out of Paris, along with the AOC and the workforce, replacing the aircraft with new A330ceos and restructuring the schedule. At least it will stop people saying that Level has no AOC!

After ORY, I think the next base is most likely to be FCO. IIRC, IAG has already indicated this. Beyond that, MAN must be a possibility.

I'd be surprised if they came to UK. I think IAG sees the UK as BAs territory and as good feeding for Aer Lingus. Plus with Virgin and Thomas Cook does MAN actually need another airline doing US routes? I don't think so myself.

MAN longhaul is a growing market and I'm sure that IAG would like a slice of it, even if that means going up against VS etc. Previously, there were rumours doing the rounds that BA was considering re-entering the MAN market with a W pattern routing out of LGW. These rumours may have subsided as IAG considers using the Level brand out of MAN instead.

TedToToe wrote:

Jerry123 wrote:

TedToToe wrote:

After ORY, I think the next base is most likely to be FCO. IIRC, IAG has already indicated this. Beyond that, MAN must be a possibility.

I'd be surprised if they came to UK. I think IAG sees the UK as BAs territory and as good feeding for Aer Lingus. Plus with Virgin and Thomas Cook does MAN actually need another airline doing US routes? I don't think so myself.

MAN longhaul is a growing market and I'm sure that IAG would like a slice of it, even if that means going up against VS etc. Previously, there were rumours doing the rounds that BA was considering re-entering the MAN market with a W pattern routing out of LGW. These rumours may have subsided as IAG considers using the Level brand out of MAN instead.

Yes it is growing but LEVEL is an unknown brand in the area, just look at Vueling it's hardly done spectacularly in the UK regions. If IAG wants to go back to long haul out of MAN then BA is the better brand to do it with even if its historically tarnished at MAN it's still well known and will already have a customer base.

The answer is it's all going to depend on what happens with the Norwegian saga and who ends up with them.

That's probably going to have to get resolved here in the next couple months.

Also, remember that for Level operated by IB, they are still part of the JV so I don't know if they want to cannibalize yields from Miami.

IAG reports that BA 777s with 10Y have lower unit costs than Norwegian. With that in mind why would IAG use the unknown LEVEL brand in preference to the recognised BA brand? Granted there aren’t many 777s refitted, but these will increase over time.

LEVEL should work perfectly there where the IAG main carriers are not focused.

Brand recognisition may be a bit of an issue, true, but if they truly aim to explore the long-haul-low-cost market, they probably don't need as much the old brand i.e. IB, BA, etc. For instance, when some people fly EZE-BCN and they just get the tickets on Iberia's web, they board the aircraft hoping to enjoy full-service onboard. So, the more they push LEVEL to the market, the more they can "educate" customers that this is a whole different thing.

Though BOS-PAR is packed, it may be good to weaken DY with BOS-ORY or disrupt their plans again with BOS-FCO if DY is still solo come S19.

They should look at a WAS airport. If AA wasn't on ORD-BCN that would be a good option.

I think it all depends what happens with Norwegian!

IAG has a fleet growth plan for LEVEL in terms of numbers but coy about type. Clearly a Norwegian acquisition would affect that. In terms both of whether LEVEL would be folded into Norwegian long haul, or simply provide access to 787s. Airbus is keen to sell A338s in high density to a LCC to demonstrate its viability in that role, and a cash purchaser like IAG would be ideal. But that is less likely if there is a tie up with Norwegian. Interesting times.

Irehdna wrote:

BCN-MIA on LV would be nice, could siphon some traffic from AA/UX/IB MAD-MIA. Only thing though is that DY flies BCN-FLL. IIRC MIA is the largest US gateway out of Spain, even slightly more than JFK.

Level isn't going to canniablize IB/AA's Daily Miami-Barcelona 777 flight.

Talking about branding recognition and the future of LEVEL.... I am curious for what do people think about DY's brand in both the UK and USA. I guess part of the operational issues the airline has/is encountering probably are affecting a little bit the likes for the airline.

The Norwegian acquisition seems more likely to end up in a whole Norwegian brand, which appears to be more well-known, but is good enough to relaunch the whole strategy if DY became an IAG airline?

Actually, we still don’t know where the A321 is going to fly to. I guess it will be based in VIE.

Does anyone know when the A330’s will come to replace the current Open Skies fleet?

Any possibility of MSP service? IAG seems to avoid the place like the plauge.

mspeaumsn wrote:

Any possibility of MSP service? IAG seems to avoid the place like the plauge.

Considering that MSP is a major hub for Delta and Skyteam and before that Northwest it's not surprising that IAG and in particular British Airways have avoided the airport plus the demand isn't really there compared to other US Gateways for them to fly to MSP, the same applies to DTW even though it was previously served by British Airways.

Jerry123 wrote:

TedToToe wrote:

Andy33 wrote:

Their main "growth" this summer is taking over the existing BA Openskies operation out of Paris, along with the AOC and the workforce, replacing the aircraft with new A330ceos and restructuring the schedule. At least it will stop people saying that Level has no AOC!

After ORY, I think the next base is most likely to be FCO. IIRC, IAG has already indicated this. Beyond that, MAN must be a possibility.

I'd be surprised if they came to UK. I think IAG sees the UK as BAs territory and as good feeding for Aer Lingus. Plus with Virgin and Thomas Cook does MAN actually need another airline doing US routes? I don't think so myself.

In the case of MAN, the US could use some more. The US3 had panicked after the Brexit announcement was made, and they have all cut down the amount of non-London UK service. We have a few less flights now. But the Pound/Dollar ratio is now more favorable, hotels are now cheaper, and an increase in the amount of people going between the US and the UK....and at the same time, less total seats between the two countries.

I can see them doing MAN-SEA. Yes, Thomas Cook is already doing it, but there is a certain amount of need for business travel as well. SEA/MAN are computer capitals of their respective countries, and also are both the secondary music industry capitals, as well. Recently, Boeing started up a facility in Sheffield...….MAN is not the closest airport, but it is the closest major/international airport. So a few Boeing people thrown into the mix on MAN-SEA, as well.

Freshside3 wrote:

Jerry123 wrote:

TedToToe wrote:

After ORY, I think the next base is most likely to be FCO. IIRC, IAG has already indicated this. Beyond that, MAN must be a possibility.

I'd be surprised if they came to UK. I think IAG sees the UK as BAs territory and as good feeding for Aer Lingus. Plus with Virgin and Thomas Cook does MAN actually need another airline doing US routes? I don't think so myself.

In the case of MAN, the US could use some more. The US3 had panicked after the Brexit announcement was made, and they have all cut down the amount of non-London UK service. We have a few less flights now. But the Pound/Dollar ratio is now more favorable, hotels are now cheaper, and an increase in the amount of people going between the US and the UK....and at the same time, less total seats between the two countries.

I can see them doing MAN-SEA. Yes, Thomas Cook is already doing it, but there is a certain amount of need for business travel as well. SEA/MAN are computer capitals of their respective countries, and also are both the secondary music industry capitals, as well. Recently, Boeing started up a facility in Sheffield...….MAN is not the closest airport, but it is the closest major/international airport. So a few Boeing people thrown into the mix on MAN-SEA, as well.

MAN-SEA sounds like the perfect route for VS.

adamh8297 wrote:

Though BOS-PAR is packed, it may be good to weaken DY with BOS-ORY or disrupt their plans again with BOS-FCO if DY is still solo come S19.

They should look at a WAS airport. If AA wasn't on ORD-BCN that would be a good option.

Maybe DFW-BCN if AA doesn’t start it? ORD-BCN is supposedly a strong seasonal performer that may get extended and upgauged to a 789.

Unrelated, ORD-VCE is said to be doing real well too (filling the front and the back, with good yields).

nomorerjs wrote:

adamh8297 wrote:

Though BOS-PAR is packed, it may be good to weaken DY with BOS-ORY or disrupt their plans again with BOS-FCO if DY is still solo come S19.

They should look at a WAS airport. If AA wasn't on ORD-BCN that would be a good option.

Maybe DFW-BCN if AA doesn’t start it? ORD-BCN is supposedly a strong seasonal performer that may get extended and upgauged to a 789.

Unrelated, ORD-VCE is said to be doing real well too (filling the front and the back, with good yields).

Level will never announce us before MIA or JFK for that matter

Freshside3 wrote:

Jerry123 wrote:

TedToToe wrote:

After ORY, I think the next base is most likely to be FCO. IIRC, IAG has already indicated this. Beyond that, MAN must be a possibility.

I'd be surprised if they came to UK. I think IAG sees the UK as BAs territory and as good feeding for Aer Lingus. Plus with Virgin and Thomas Cook does MAN actually need another airline doing US routes? I don't think so myself.

In the case of MAN, the US could use some more. The US3 had panicked after the Brexit announcement was made, and they have all cut down the amount of non-London UK service. We have a few less flights now. But the Pound/Dollar ratio is now more favorable, hotels are now cheaper, and an increase in the amount of people going between the US and the UK....and at the same time, less total seats between the two countries.

I can see them doing MAN-SEA. Yes, Thomas Cook is already doing it, but there is a certain amount of need for business travel as well. SEA/MAN are computer capitals of their respective countries, and also are both the secondary music industry capitals, as well. Recently, Boeing started up a facility in Sheffield...….MAN is not the closest airport, but it is the closest major/international airport. So a few Boeing people thrown into the mix on MAN-SEA, as well.

And I'm sure that Virgin and Thomas Cook will fill that demand over the years to come.