On Friday I first wrote about LEVEL, the new transatlantic low cost carrier being launched by IAG, the parent company of British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, and Vueling. The new airline is designed to compete with the likes of Norwegian and WOW Air, which are otherwise giving the traditional transatlantic airlines a lot of competition.
LEVEL will initially be launching flights out of Barcelona this summer, as follows:
- Flights to Los Angeles start on June 1, 2017 and operate twice per week
- Flights to Oakland start on June 2, 2017 and operate three times per week
- Flights to Punta Cana start on June 10, 2017 and operate twice per week
- Flights to Buenos Aires start on June 17, 2017 and operate three times per week
They’ll initially be operating two A330 aircraft, though will grow over time. Tickets went on sale on Friday at flylevel.com, and start at $149 one-way.
Now here’s the crazy part — LEVEL is claiming they sold 52,000 tickets on their first day. That’s so impressive that I’m not sure whether or not to believe it.
https://twitter.com/flywithlevelEN/status/843125135448182784
Let’s assume that by 52,000 tickets they mean 52,000 one-way tickets. LEVEL A330-200s have a total of 314 seats. That means that on day one they sold out 165+ planes. They’ll eventually operate 10 weekly frequencies in each direction across their four routes, or a total of 20 weekly frequencies roundtrip. That means that on day one they sold out every single flight for over eight weeks.
As of now they’re only selling tickets through mid-October, which would mean that they’ve sold nearly half of all seats on day one.
If that is in fact true, that must be one of the most successful airline launches ever. While sub-$300 roundtrip transatlantic tickets are tempting, I’m shocked that many people pulled the trigger on day one.
If this is in fact true, congrats to LEVEL… that’s amazing. However, maybe they meant something else. They said that on day one they hit “record sales.” Wouldn’t any number of sales on the first day of accepting bookings be a “record?” 😉
Did any readers make a booking on LEVEL on day one?
Membership is free and takes no more information than commenting as a guest. Earn status points for good contributions, and see fewer ads as your status grows.