Cheaper than Dirt Flights

These are the question everyone asks about the latest low-cost airlines news: Reuters, the CEO of Norwegian Airlines Air Shuttle ASA, told Bjorn Kjos in an interviewer that his company is planning to sell one-way US to European air travel passes for ludicrously low $69 in 2017.

According to Reuters, Kjos is planning to keep the cost down by operating to Edinburgh, Scotland and Bergen, Norway, from low-cost destinations such as New York's Westchester County Airport and Connecticut Bradley International Airport (the US administration would have to establish US customs posts at these airports). Norwegisch currently serves eight mainland US towns, and recently it seems that low-cost carriers in Europe have tripped over themselves to provide low-cost transit from the US. Early this year, Wow offered flights from Iceland to Reykjavik for $99 from Boston.

Lufthansa affiliate Lufthansa Germany announces long distance flight schedules. Might this be the beginning of a long-term pricing battle that could lower the cost of a return trans-atlantic air ticket? Therefore, your dreams of travelling to Europe for less than $100 may not come true: the first issue is that these much-discussed, apparently cheap tariffs end up having little in common with what actual travellers are paying.

A return to the United States could be a little more money. In fact, Kjos acknowledges that the overall costs of a return journey would be close to $300 on a daily basis. Nevertheless, $300 is still a very good price for Europe. If there are low-cost carriers, there are more charges:

Unlike many large airlines that cross the Atlantic, Norway requires US$50 for your first hold baggage and does not provide free meals and beverages. And then there is the question of how many of the inexpensive places will actually be available on a plane. "Hobica forecasts that either [Norwegian] will pay a lot of money or only a few places will be sold at $69 and the remainder at much higher rates.

What is the number of places Norway offers for this 69 dollar rate? Indeed, these low tariffs are likely to disappear to Europe if recent events serve as a reference. It is not the first times that carriers have provided inexpensive, accurate tariffs that have taken as long as the news. The Wow Air, which launched the $99 flights to Europe early this year, is now pricing its one-way flight from Boston to Reykjavik for $186 - just over $99 (for a January round voyage, Yahoo Travel was priced at $350.39).

Wow Aire flights connected to London Gatwick Airport reached a level of over $574, while Norwegian currently provides a $446 return journey from New York's JFK to Gatwick during this time ( but unlike Wow Aire flights, Norwegians to England are direct). Naturally, the pre-fee carriers were still cheaper than the $695 New York-London rate we received from Delta for the same time.

While low-cost carriers are generally lower than their rivals, these extremely low-attention tariffs can only be a joke. Indeed, Norwegian's new tariffs are starting just as the carrier is planning to present its trendier new Boeing 737-MAXs. "The long-haul plane will allow us to open up an infinite number of destinations that are not currently operated by other airlines," says Lindstrpm of Norway tellYahoo Travel.

Of the 100 B737-MAX aircraft ordered by Norwayian, the first five will take off in 2017. Norway is planning to sell its low tariffs at the end of 2016 - in good season for the new aircraft. Whilst no one seriously believes that these $69 tariffs will last forever, Yahoo Travel of Norway says that its new aircraft may enable it to continue to offer lower than the big boys' trans-atlantic tariffs.

"If we add the new Boeing 737-MAX to our aircraft we will be able to reduce our rates even further," says Lindström to Yahoo Travel. B737-MAXs are about 8 per cent lower than their rivals, Boeing said. Norwegisch says between the and its other effective new aircraft (the carrier also runs Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner), it can transfer cost reductions to them.

Lindström also says that Norwegian and other European low-cost airlines have made the big "old" airlines lower their Fares even though "their Civil Air Fares are still high". "David Parker Brown told Yahoo Travel that you probably shouldn't anticipate the bigger legacies reducing rates much lower to be able to race these low-cost people.

A Yahoo! original Yahoo! publication, entitled Are Dirt-Cheap Flights the Way of the Future?