Europe's low cost long haul airlines establishing themselves

CAPA convenes the world's first Low Cost Long Haul airline Summit in Seville, 4/5-Oct-2018.

According to CAPA analysis of the CAPA Fleet Database, Europe has 47 aircraft that are currently deployed on long haul low cost routes. Not surprisingly, the majority of these aircraft are widebodies, but there are now four narrowbodies with low cost airlines based in Europe that are operating trans-Atlantic routes.

These 47 aircraft are operated by just six airline brands: Norwegian, Eurowings, WOW air, Primera Air, French Bee and Level.

Nevertheless, little more than five years ago, none of these airlines operated on long haul and some did not even exist at all. In spite of question marks over the profitability of the model (Norwegian, in particular, has struggled with losses in two of the four full years since entering long haul), Europe's low cost long haul operators continue to develop and grow.

This report gives an overview of Europe's low cost long haul operators and their long haul fleets. The CAPA Low Cost Long Haul Global Summit, which will take place in Seville, Spain on 4-5 October 2018, will examine this growing strategic sector of the world airline industry in detail.