The era of insanely cheap flights to Europe may be coming to a close
This week, Icelandair purchased its biggest competitor, Wow Air, for around US$18m in an all-stock deal. The two airlines will now have 3.8% of the transatlantic market, but will operate under their own brands. Wow had been offering fares worthy of its name, with prices as low as $55 for international flights, perhaps the lowest of low-cost airlines with prices that would have been unfathomable even a few years ago. Low fuel costs, efficient planes, and heavy competition all worked together to bring costs down significantly and allow too-good-to-be-true prices to actually be true. All of a sudden, a transatlantic ticket for around $300 was possible — and common. But with the recent uptick in fuel prices, the shuttering of Primera Air and other low-cost carriers, and now this acquisition, perhaps the cheap airfare party is winding down. <br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2018-11-07/unaligned/the-era-of-insanely-cheap-flights-to-europe-may-be-coming-to-a-close
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The era of insanely cheap flights to Europe may be coming to a close
This week, Icelandair purchased its biggest competitor, Wow Air, for around US$18m in an all-stock deal. The two airlines will now have 3.8% of the transatlantic market, but will operate under their own brands. Wow had been offering fares worthy of its name, with prices as low as $55 for international flights, perhaps the lowest of low-cost airlines with prices that would have been unfathomable even a few years ago. Low fuel costs, efficient planes, and heavy competition all worked together to bring costs down significantly and allow too-good-to-be-true prices to actually be true. All of a sudden, a transatlantic ticket for around $300 was possible — and common. But with the recent uptick in fuel prices, the shuttering of Primera Air and other low-cost carriers, and now this acquisition, perhaps the cheap airfare party is winding down. <br/>
