Airports IAG’s subsidiary Level opens base at Paris Orly Airport

The carrier, that was founded in March 2017, will launch flights from Paris to Montreal, New York Newark, Guadeloupe and Martinique from July 2018. Level will base two Airbus A330-200 aircraft at Orly, each with 293 economy and 21 premium economy seats.

Level’s Paris flights will be operated by staff who currently work for IAG’s French airline OpenSkies which is based at the airport. The OpenSkies brand will cease to operate at the end of next summer and all its staff will operate Level flights. OpenSkies currently operates a fleet of 3 Boeing 757-200 and one Boeing 767-300ER on several daily flights between Paris and New York (JFK and Newark).

Willie Walsh, IAG’s chief executive, said: “Level’s Barcelona operation has been an incredible success. Customers love it and Level will be profitable this year. Barcelona was always a first step and today we’re delighted to launch flights from our second European city with four exciting new routes from Paris.”

Like Barcelona, Paris Orly is a hub of IAG’s European low cost carrier Vueling. Passengers will be able to book connection flights from several European destinations to Paris Orly.

Orly is the second largest airport of Paris and one of Europe’s largest long haul low cost airports. Several airlines including the start-up French Blue offer daily long haul flights. Level is facing a high competition on its flights to the Caribbean. The announced route from Paris Orly to Fort-de-France (Martinique) for example is served by Air France, Air Caraibes and TUI’s subsidiary Corsair International.

Level commenced operations in Barcelona in July 2017. With two Airbus A330-200, operated by Iberia, the airline offers daily flights to several destinations in North and South America.

Several European airlines have founded new long haul low cost subsidiaries in the last years. Lufthansa’s Eurowings operates long haul flights from several German airports and Air France is planning Joon Air as a new low cost brand for flights to the US.