LEVEL launches short-haul flights in Europe: 14 new destinations from Vienna including Barcelona, Dubrovnik or Valencia

British Airways’ owner IAG is expanding its low-cost long-haul airline Level further by launching short-haul routes from a base in Vienna.

IAG launched the Level brand more than a year ago as a low-cost rival to challenger Norwegian.

The new Level service from Vienna will start on 17 July, with four planes serving 14 destinations including Gatwick and Barcelona.

On July 17, flights to Palma de Mallorca and London Gatwick will be launched. Over the subsequent four weeks, flights from Vienna will be launched to Barcelona, Malaga, Venice, Olbia, Ibiza, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Milan Malpensa, Dubrovnik, Larnaca, Alicante, Valencia and Bilbao.

Lead-in fares start at €24.99 and can be bought at Vueling.com.

Willie Walsh, IAG chief executive, said: “We are launching this new shorthaul subsidiary to provide Austrian consumers with more flight choices across Europe. These flights will be branded as LEVEL to build upon the huge success of our new long haul low-cost operation.

We will serve the Austrian market with low-cost, reliable flights and will initially create around 200 new jobs at our Vienna base.

“Customers can check-in online or at the airport and take one hand baggage item onboard for free. They can choose to pay for additional items, such as checked luggage, from a menu of options designed to suit a variety of budgets and needs. There will also be a large selection of food and drink which can be purchased onboard”.

Each of the A321 aircraft will have 210 economy seats and flights will operate from Terminal 1 in Vienna airport.

Vienna airport has attracted expansion from other low-cost services recently, including EasyJet, Lufthansa’s low-cost arm Eurowings and Hungary’s Wizz Air.

We are most likely about to see a massive promotions on flights from Vienna as all major low-cost airlines are currently present and the competition is at its maximum.

Another low-cost airline Laudamotion backed by Niki Lauda and Ryanair launched hundreds of cheap flights from Vienna just few months ago.

This is definitely a good news for all fans of cheap flights and we are curious to see what will this massive competition bring in the future.