by Gavin Haines, The Daily Telegraph, December 9, 2016
Europe is about to get a new low-cost airline thanks to a collaboration between Etihad and the TUI Group, whose subsidiaries include Thomson and First Choice.
The as-yet-unnamed carrier will be based at airports in Austria, Switzerland and Germany but according to Etihad it will serve “a broad network of destinations” including, it is thought, some UK airports.
Competition is already rife amongst budget carriers, so where will the new airline fit in?
In a statement the two travel giants said they were seeking to “create a strong European leisure airline group, focused on point-to-point flying to connect key tourist markets”.
However, this is already a somewhat crowded marketplace thanks to the likes of Ryanair, easyJet, Norwegian, Vueling and Wizz Air, which have long offered excellent connectivity across the continent.
“The airline is arriving somewhat late to the low-cost party,” said Nick Trend, Telegraph Travel’s consumer expert.
The new carrier, which is due to launch in April 2017 with a fleet of around 60 planes, will be one of the largest budget airlines in Europe. Most of those planes will be Boeing 737s, supplied by TUI and Air Berlin, the loss-making carrier that is part-owned by Etihad.The new airline will also deploy Airbus A320 jets belonging to Fly Niki, a subsidiary of Air Berlin. Fly Niki is based in Vienna and was founded by the Austrian former racing driver, Niki Lauda.
“This looks very much like a relaunch of Air Berlin,” said Trend. “There may be a handful of additional flights available for British holidaymakers, but I don’t think it’s likely to revolutionise low-cost travel.”
The working title for the new airline is “Blue Sky”, which was also the codename used by British Airways for its low-cost subsidiary, Go.
That airline didn’t go very far, nor did it see much blue sky: after seven difficult years it ceased trading in 2005.
This article was written by Gavin Haines from The Daily Telegraph and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.