IAG picks Paris as second base for discount airline

BA owner IAG chose Paris as a second base for its discount airline Level, which will offer transatlantic flights to destinations like New York and the Caribbean as carriers compete to lower prices on longer routes. CEO Willie Walsh unveiled the plan Tuesday in the French capital, which won out over Rome for the designation. Level plans to start offering in the coming months one-way tickets from Paris to New York for 129 euros and to Montreal, Guadeloupe and Martinique for 99 euros, he said. "We believe long-haul, low-cost routes can be profitable," Walsh said. The airline, which currently operates only from Barcelona, will progressively replace the premium ‘OpenSkies’ brand and operate out of Paris’s Orly airport, which is also a hub for the group’s other low-cost airline, Vueling. IAG is using Level to defend its markets against similar discount long-haul operations at Air France-KLM and Lufthansa, as well as specialist low-cost operator Norwegian Air Shuttle. The unveiling of a hub in France comes the same week as Air France prepares to roll out a new airline called Joon that it says will have lower fares than its flagship brand. IAG picked Paris because of the number of tourists flocking to the city, OpenSkies head Patrick Malval said.<br/>