Transatlantic flights at $65: A new era of budget flying, or just cheap marketing?
If you can spare $65, Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA will fly you from one of three small airports in the northeastern United States to either the airports in Dublin or Shannon, Ireland; or Edinburgh, Scotland.
Just read before you book. That rock-bottom fare doesn鈥檛 include a return trip. A specific seat reservation, checked bag, and several in-flight amenities 鈥� food, a blanket, headsets 鈥� all cost extra.
This 鈥渘o-frills鈥� approach is part of Norwegian鈥檚 strategy for keeping fares low, 鈥淚 pay for what I want, you pay for what you want. We don't pay for what everybody else on the plane wants.鈥�
Although Norwegian鈥檚 $65 price is a 鈥�,鈥� several carriers in both the US and Europe are using similar techniques to drive down ticket prices.
Norwegian鈥檚 announcement comes a month after Icelandic airline WOW rolled out $69 fares from the US West Coast to Britain and Scandinavia. As 海角大神聽reported at the time, WOW is one of several 鈥淟ow Cost Carriers (LLCs) 鈥� that charge for the amenities most US flyers take for granted.
Spirit Airlines brought this approach to the US domestic market in 2006. Since then, about its many fees and poor customer service.
But it turns out that Americans are willing to face more discomfort if it means getting from A to B for less; of any US airline in 2015.
Some older airlines have bucked this trend 鈥� Delta, for instance, recently brought back free meals on long domestic flights. But for the most part, they鈥檙e playing catch-up. According to Cond茅 Nast Traveler鈥檚 Zach Everson, Delta, American, and United have either introduced or are planning to introduce 鈥溾�� options that resemble Spirit鈥檚.
Other developments are also pulling down prices. In 2011, a deal between the US and the European Union to liberalize air travel was extended to Iceland and Norway, creating an opening for WOW and Norwegian.
Today鈥檚 airlines also have more options than wide-body jets. Boeing鈥檚 new 737-MAX can cross the Atlantic nonstop, and an airline only needs to sell 189 seats to fill it. Lars Sande, Norwegian鈥檚 senior vice president for sales, 鈥渨ouldn鈥檛 be possible if we didn鈥檛 get the 737.鈥澛犅�
While the company鈥檚 $65 tickets may be a limited-time-offer, developments like these mean that international airfares aren鈥檛 likely to hover in the $655-to-$2,755 range competing carriers offer.
Airfares have already been dropping for years. According to e:
Between 1990 and 2013, the average international round-trip airfare from $1,248 to $1,175 (2013 U.S. dollars). In both cases, the average number of miles flown per trip has increased.
As Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst with Atmosphere Research Group, , one that isn鈥檛 likely to go away: 鈥淲e are seeing some competition, and competition is always good for the consumer.鈥�
This report contains material from Reuters.
