Where Will LEVEL’s Next European Base Be Located?

As I mentioned in my previous post, many legacy airlines have started creating their own brand of low coast carriers. This has come in response to Norwegian and WOW air, which have done a tremendous job of shaking up the Transatlantic market and subsequently lowering ticket prices. As a reminder, here are the brands that legacy carriers have developed as their own low cost subsidiary (so far):

Eurowings: (Lufthansa Group)

Eurowings is fully operational, and serves many intra-European cities along with destinations in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and North America. They primarily operate from bases within Germany, although they do fly out of select cities in Austria as well.

Joon (Air France/KLM):

Joon is launching service this December, and (so far) we know that the airline will be based in Paris-CDG and fly to select destinations in Europe (Barcelona, Berlin, Lisbon, and Porto) along with Africa (Mahe, Seychelles) and South America (Fortaleza, Brazil).

LEVEL (IAG: British Airways/Iberia)

This brings us to LEVEL, which just started service to destinations in the America’s and the Caribbean (Buenos Aires, Punta Cana, Los Angeles, and Oakland) from its hub in Barcelona.

 

Rumor’s are floating around that the airline is considering adding an additional European operating base alongside Barcelona, with Paris or Rome on the initial shortlist.

Why I Believe Rome Makes the Most Sense for LEVEL:

1. Italy’s largest airline, Alitalia, is in dire financial circumstances and is holding on for dear life. They have already filed for bankruptcy here in the U.S. and have taken loans from the government in order to keep them afloat until they find a new buyer.
2. Paris will be overcrowded with LCC’s. As it stands, Norwegian serves (or is planning to serve) 8 destinations in the U.S. from Paris.Add in Air France new LCC Joon, and there will be increasing competition among LCC’s in the city.
3. Rome has yet to attract significant transoceanic LCC’s. Norwegian is scheduled to start service to three U.S. destinations this winter, although this represents less than half of their transatlantic flights from Paris. If LEVEL acts now, they can enter the market relatively quickly after Norwegian and minimize the risk of losing any significant market share of passengers.
4. There will always be leisure demand for travel to Italy. The country is one of the premier tourist destinations in the world, and surprisingly lacks any significant long haul low cost options for international travel (see #3).

To the Point!

From a customer standpoint, I hope LEVEL’s next European base is the Italian capital. The city is lacking in long haul LCC options, as Norwegian is only just entering the market in winter 2017. In addition, Alitalia is in shambles. If the airline goes under, LEVEL would stand to receive a greater share of the city’s long haul travelers.

I would love a low cost option to get to the “Eternal City.”