IAG subsidiary LEVEL France to cease operations

Aviation Economics & Finance level_airlines_airbus_a330.jpg
Lukas Wunderlich

A month after LEVEL Europe entered insolvency, OpenSkies, which operates under the LEVEL France brand, announced it would cease activities. The closure of the two IAG subsidiaries is a way for the group to save costs.

Unable to sustain the drop in long-haul demand, the Paris-Orly based airline will be closing operations shortly. From July 15, 2020, discussions with the trade unions will start to negotiate the terms of a job protection plan.

OpenSkies was created in 2008, when British Airways acquired the two-year-old French airline L’Avion. Since 2018, LEVEL France has been the low-cost long-haul subsidiary of the IAG group. It operated a fleet of three Airbus A330-200s on routes towards Fort-de-France, Montréal, New York, and Pointe-à-Pitre.

On June 18, 2020, LEVEL Europe, a short-haul carrier based in Austria, entered insolvency. The last surviving airline of the LEVEL brand, based at Barcelona–El Prat Airport (BCN), is expected to continue operations.