Iceland Express is a new Icelandic low cost airline. Its main aim is to break the monopoly of Icelandair on the London route and the duopoly of Icelandair and SAS on the Copenhagen route. Operations will start on Fenrary 27th 2003 using a 737-300 wet leased from Astraeus. Flights will be:
London Stansted to Keflavik – Daily from £108 return
Copenhagen to Keflavik – Daily from DKK 1.279 retrun
I notcied that they are using the flight code AEU. This is Astraeus’ code aswell isn’t it?
Go used to operate a daily service from Stansted to Keflavik during the summer months a couple of years ago but this service has not returned since. It will be interesting to see if this airline will be successful. Reports have said though there has been a high demand for seats on this airline.
European Countries that now have low cost airlines:
Iceland – Iceland Express
Norway – Norwegian
Sweden – SAS Lite and Ryanair base
Denmark – SAS Lite
Germany – Hapag Lloyd Express, Germanwings and Ryanair base
France – Air Lib Express
Italy – Volareweb and Ryanair base
Ireland – Ryanair
United Kingdom – Buzz, bmibaby, easyJet (and go), Ryanair base, MYTravel Lite, Jet2, (FlyGlobespan, Planet Air, Air Scotland)
Belguim – Virgin Express
Netherlands – Basiq Air and easyJet base
Switzerland – easyJet base
Slovakia – Sky Europe
As you can see quite lot – maybe a Spanish one would be a good idea?
regards
dan777
By: EGNM - 29th January 2003 at 23:14
RE: Yet Another European Low Cost Airline !!!
yea saw em alst night – quite a range of destinations for a start-up to compete with Ryr – we’ll have to see!
By: T5 - 29th January 2003 at 20:57
RE: Yet Another European Low Cost Airline !!!
I see Fresh Aer is based at Ascot, just down the road from me. Seems a little odd having their main offices anywhere but home!
By: mongu - 29th January 2003 at 20:40
RE: Yet Another European Low Cost Airline !!!
BA have never charged for soft drinks. Neither do Euromanx.
For long haul, I have never been on an airline that charges for anything inflight, except for phonecalls and duty free purchases.
By: Saab 2000 - 29th January 2003 at 20:26
RE: Yet Another European Low Cost Airline !!!
[updated:LAST EDITED ON 29-01-03 AT 08:27 PM (GMT)]Aer Lingus only charges for a snack on UK routes I think? Most airlines sadly charge for drinks now. It makes no difference if they are alcohol or soft.
By: dan777 - 29th January 2003 at 19:57
RE: Yet Another European Low Cost Airline !!!
According to www.jethros.i12.com, a new Irish Low Cost Airline called Fresh Aer is planned to start flights from Ireland to The U.K and Europe using Boeing 757-200’s.
www.freshaer.com only offers job information at present.
I also forgot to list a few other low cost airlines:
Germany – fly dba, Low FareJet planned
Italy – Meridana may consider setting up a low cost airline
I don’t know if Air Berlin would be considered a low cost airline becuase it offers low fares and routes like City Shuttle but also offers charter services and free snacks and drinks.
I know Aer Lingus and fly.be charge for food and drinks but they are atill schedueled airlines.
Regards
dan777
By: Saab 2000 - 29th January 2003 at 18:23
RE: Yet Another European Low Cost Airline !!!
Yes everything on Iceland is expensive. As it is an island with very unworkable land and poor conditions a lot of the goods have to be imported, thus pushing the price up.
With Iceland Express, if GO could not make a profit on the Reykjavik route, then one could not imagine an Icelandic airline doing much better. However, best of luck to them…although I do get the impression many of these Euro Locos will end up in tears. But hey, I could be wrong.
By: T5 - 29th January 2003 at 13:38
RE: Yet Another European Low Cost Airline !!!
We have too many low cost airlines at the moment and I believe, especially in the United Kingdom, we are in desperate need of other low cost methods of transport – buses and trains are expensive and could be offered for less.
By: Ren Frew - 29th January 2003 at 10:40
RE: Yet Another European Low Cost Airline !!!
Isn’t the price of everything high in Iceland ? A friend shot a travel report there recently and couldn’t believe how much a beer was for example. Nice people though, great bunch of geysers !
By: wysiwyg - 29th January 2003 at 10:20
RE: Yet Another European Low Cost Airline !!!
Astraeus have recently applied for some scheduled route licenses so they may be contracted to operate for the new start up.
By: mongu - 29th January 2003 at 00:28
RE: Yet Another European Low Cost Airline !!!
Just checked on expedia…
£330-ish for LHR-KEF if you both leave and return midweek. Add a weekend and the price goes up to £822.
Ridiculous!!!
By: EGNM - 29th January 2003 at 00:07
RE: Yet Another European Low Cost Airline !!!
That’ll plse Atlanta – they were paying around the £500 per person to position crew members in at the last min to LHR the LHR-MAN with BA – this KEF-STN-MAN might be even better! – think about it – maybee 50 trips per summer season (it was a lot more!) – save £250pp = £12,500 per season – and i’m certain more trips than this were done!
By: mongu - 28th January 2003 at 23:26
RE: Yet Another European Low Cost Airline !!!
You better believe it, Iceland is a high-demand destination.
I’ve wanted to go for ages…but Icelandair (who seem to get quite bad reports) charge a fortune – £500 rtn for LHR-KEF and that is even with staying over a Saturday and going midweek!
Go did OK running STN-KEF but pulled out because:
1. Summer was OK, but in the winter they needed to buy a helluva lot of de-icing fluid. I think it would also be fair to suggest the de-icing company at KEF might favour Icelandair for some reason!
2. It’s a fairly long flight – maybe only 2 trips a day in each direction. It is probably more profitable to fly 4 times a day to somewhere nearer. That would also be less risky from a revenue point of view.
3. For some odd reason, Go’s flights either left or returned to STN at about 2 in the morning!!
By: T5 - 28th January 2003 at 23:18
RE: Yet Another European Low Cost Airline !!!
Too many low cost carriers! Is demand for air travel to Iceland quite high?
By: Bhoy - 28th January 2003 at 23:12
RE: Yet Another European Low Cost Airline !!!
see these Astraeus flights? do they all have enroute stops in Cardiff? :S
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January 28, 2003 at 11:05 pm