MAX KINGSLEY-JONES AND JUSTIN WASTNAGE / LONDON
Two more of Europe's established airlines are spinning off low fare divisions as they look to tap into the region's fastest growing sector.
Regional airline Norwegian Air Shuttle is to offer a low fare arm on domestic routes with leased Boeing 737s, while leisure giant MyTravel Group has named Birmingham, UK, as the initial hub for its new low fare operation.
Norwegian Air Shuttle has taken delivery of a 737-500 on interim lease from International Lease Finance (ILFC), with which it will launch low cost services from Oslo Gardermoen Airport on 1 September under the brand name "Norwegian". Longer term, six 148-seat 737-300s will be leased from Boeing Capital (one), GE Capital Aviation Services (three) and ILFC (two), between next month and November.
The new arm will operate low-fare services from its Gardermoen hub initially to Bergen, Stavanger and Trondheim with more routes to be added as aircraft are delivered. Fares will be structured in a two geographic-zone system, priced around NKr1,000 ($130) one-way, either in the north or the south of the country.
The airline will retain its fleet of Fokker 50 turboprops for regional routes under the Norwegian Air Shuttle banner.
Stig Willassen, administrative director of Norwegian, says there is huge public interest in the new carrier, following the near monopoly in the country's air transport created by the merger of Norway's main carrier Braathens with Scandinavian Airlines. "There is great frustration in Norway over steadily increasing prices," he says.
Meanwhile MyTravelLite, the new low fare arm of the UK tour operator, will launch services from Birmingham on 1 October. Headed by former Ryanair marketing director Tim Jeans, MyTravelLite will launch with two 180-seat Airbus A320s on services to Alicante, Belfast International, Beauvais (for Paris), Geneva and Malaga. One way fares will start at £19-29 ($30-46), depending on the route.
The A320s and their flightcrews are being transferred from the group's charter arm MyTravel Airways. "We've taken the [MyTravel Airways'] highly efficient operation and created a high utilisation flying programme which delivers lower costs than either EasyJet or Go," says Jeans. MyTravel is tight-lipped on expansion plans, saying only that two more A320s will "probably be added" from mid-2003.
MyTravel Group says that the low fare move has been prompted by the 15-20% annual growth that the sector is experiencing, against around 5% for its traditional business, package holidays.
Source: Flight International
