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Connecting the Continents Cheaply
These alternative airlines—intercontinental low-cost carriers—can make crossing the Atlantic or Pacific or other long-haul international flights less expensive
Jetblue may be a cheap ticket, but the service is top-notch, including leather seats with plenty of leg room, and even your own personal DirectTV screen. That's more frills than you get with a legacy carrier.
Flying Cheaply between Europe and North America:
You'd be forgiven for believing that the only way to fly across the Atlantic was on either (a) one of the major US carriers like American Airlines, Delta, United, and such, or (b) one of Europe's "flag carrier" airlines, the formerly national carriers (now technically privitized, but still largely state-supported) such as British Airways, Air France, Alitalia, Lufthansa, etc.
You'd be wrong, but you'd be forgiven.
That's because chances are no one's ever taken you aside and whispered in your ear names like LTU, Martinair, and Eurofly.
Those are just a few of the alternative transatlantic carriers that often charge far less than the Big Boys to fly you from the USA or Canada to—in these particular cases—Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy respectively.
The best news is that roundtrip fares from the US start at $348 to Germany, $399 to Spain, $576 to Ireland, and $649 to Italy—and that's during the summer high season!
So where did these alternative Transatlantic airlines come from? Some of these guys—like Italy's Eurofly or Germany's Condor—are former charter or regional feeder airlines that are now stricking out on their own with regularly scheduled services sold directly to the public (rather than via a tour company or branded under a major carrier).
Some are no-frills airlines—like Canada's Zoom and Scotland's FlyGlobeSpan—taking a chance and dipping their toes into the waters of the Atlantic by adding a long-haul route connecting the continents.
Then there are those that blur the line between traditional carrier and budget alternative. Virgin Atlantic was started expressly to compete against a major airline (British Airways) on its own turf by plying the transatlantic routes as a full-fledged rival.
Aer Lingus arrived in this category from the other direction by reinventing itself as an inexpensive hybrid airline somewhere between a traditional carrier and a no-frills airline.
OK, here are the airlines:
Flights to France
Zoom (www.flyzoom.com) - Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary to Paris.Flights to Germany
Condor (www.condor.de) - A member of the Thomas Cook group, offering year-round direct flights to Frankfurt from Orlando, Las Vegas, Anchorage, and Fairbanks and in Canada Vancouver, Halifax, and Whitehorse.
LTU (www.ltu.com) - Around since 1955 and flying from the US since 1990. Main German hub is Düsseldorf, but also direct flights from the U.S. to Dresden, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart, Berlin, Vienna, and Zurich. Main U.S. departure city is New York, but there are also (less frequent) flights from two dozen other U.S. gateways, some via a connection and some only seasonally (mostly summer), including Atlanta, Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and San Fransciso (as well as from Vancouver).
Flights to Ireland
Aer Lingus (www.aerlingus.com) - Direct flights to Shannon and Dublin from NYC, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Orlando, San Francisco, and Washington-Dulles. Over the past few years, Aer Lingus has successfully transformed itself from Ireland's old (and over-priced) flag carrier into a far less expensive hybrid airline, operating a full complement of connections and long-haul routes but hewing much more closely on the no-frills mentality—including slashing ticket prices.
It's telling that, alone among Europe's old guard airlines, Aer Lingus is the only one now consistently turning a profit without its government having to unload dump trucks full of money into its coffers just to keep it solvent. This represents, perhaps, the only future for any major airline that wants to survive the current rash of bankruptcies (witness the 2005 merger in the USA of low cost regional carrier American West and desperate relic US Airways).
FlyGlobeSpan (www.flyglobespan.com) - A Scottish upstart flying from Orlando and Toronto to Belfast.
Zoom (www.flyzoom.com) - Toronto and Vancouver to Belfast.
Flights to Italy
Eurofly (www.euroflyusa.com) - Former charter branch of Alitalia (flying from Italy to popular vacation destinations), spun off in 2003 and, as of winter 2007/08, offering scheduled transatlantic flights from New York City (JFK) to Rome, Milan, Naples, Bologna, and Palermo.
Flights to the Netherlands
Martinair (www.martinairusa.com) - Well-respected charter company connecting Holland to Florida since the 1960s. Daily flights to Amsterdam from Miami and Orlando; several per week from Canada (Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, and Edmonton). Incidentally, it also flies from Florida to San Jose, Costa Rica.Flights to the U.K.
Virgin Atlantic (www.virgin-atlantic.com) - Flights to London from New York, Washington, DC, Boston, Miami, Orlando, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Nassau, Bahamas. Virgin Atlantic has been such a success that it has not only helped drive the price of flying to London down to affordable levels—an example of the benefits of free market competition at its best—but has also deservedly taken its rightful place as a major carrier itself, even if its arch-nemesis British Airways is still nominally Britain's "flag carrier." However, since Virgin is also still a legitimate alternative airline (though, far from no-frills, it has a history of being the first to introduce such economy-clas luxuries as small grooming kits and personal seatback entertainment screens), it gets counted on this page as well.
FlyGlobeSpan (www.flyglobespan.com) - Orlando to Glasgow and Belfast. Toronto to London, Endinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Bristolo, Belfast. Calgary and Vancouver to London, Manchester, Glasgow.
Zoom (www.flyzoom.com) - Mostly flights from Canada, plus New York and Bermuda to London. Toronto to London, Manchester, Glasgow, Cardiff, Belfast. Vancouver to London, Manchester, Glasgow, Belfast. Calgary to London, Manchester, Glasgow. Ottawa and Halifax to London, Glasgow. Montreal and Winnipeg and to London.
Flights between North America and Asia
Oasis Hong Kong (www.oasishongkong.com) - Vancouver to Hong Kong.
Flights between Europe and Asia/the Middle East
Condor (www.condor.de) - Germany to India (Goa), the Indian Ocean (the Seychelles, Mauritius, the Maldives, Sri Lanka), and Thailand (Bangkok, Phuket).
Eurofly (www.eurofly.it) - Italy to Male/the Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Mauritius.
LTU (www.ltu.com) - Germany to Thailand (Bangkok, Phuket, Koh Samui, Chaing Mai), Cambodia, India (Goa), the Maldives, Mauritius, and Sri Lanka.
Air Berlin (www.airberlin.com) - Bought in 2007 by LTU but still operating independently. Germany and Vienna to China (Shanghai, Beijing), Thailand (Bangkok, Koh Samui, Phuket, Chiang Mai), India (Goa), Sri Lanka, Maldives.
Martinair (www.martinair.com) - The Netherlands to Oman, Sri Lanka, Thailand (Phuket).
Virgin Atlantic (www.virgin-atlantic.com) - Flights from London to Dubai, Mumbai (Bombay), Hong Kong, Mauritius, Tokyo, Shanghai, Singapore. Also (though I relaize this is not in Asia) London to Sydney.
Oasis Hong Kong (www.oasishongkong.com) - London to Hong Kong.
Flights between Europe and Latin America
Condor (www.condor.de) - Germany to Costa Rica, Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, and the Caribbean (Antigua, Barbados, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago).
Air Comet (www.aircomet.com) - As of 2007, focusing on the Spain-to-Latin America market: offering flights from Madrid to Argentina, Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Peru.
Eurofly (www.eurofly.it) - Italy to the Dominican Republic.
LTU (www.ltu.com) - Germany to Mexico (Cancun) and the Caribbean (Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica), Mexico.
Martinair (www.martinair.com) - The Netherlands to the Caribbean (Aruba, Cuba, Curacao, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago), Costa Rica, Surinam, and Mexico (Cancun).
Zoom (www.flyzoom.com) - Bermuda to London.
Virgin Atlantic (www.virgin-atlantic.com) - Flights from London to the Caribbean/Atlantic islands (Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Tobago).
Air Berlin (www.airberlin.com) - Bought in 2007 by LTU but still operating independently. Germany and Vienna to the Caribbean (Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica), Mexico (Cancun).
Flights between Europe and Africa
Condor (www.condor.de) - Germany to Kenya, Tanzania, Egypt, Gambia, Senegal, Morocco, Tunisia, the Canaries, and the Indian Ocean (the Seychelles, Mauritius, the Maldives).
HLX, or Hapag-Lloyd Express (www.hlx.com) - Germany to Egypt, Morocco, the Canaries, Cape Verde islands.
Air Berlin (www.airberlin.com) - Bought in 2007 by LTU but still operating independently. Germany to Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Namibia, South Africa (plus Vienna to Kenya).
EasyJet (www.easyjet.com) - England, Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland to Morocco.
Eurofly (www.eurofly.it) - Italy to Egypt, Kenya, Mauritius.
LTU (www.ltu.com) - Germany to Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Kenya, South Africa, Namibia, Mauritius.
Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) - England, France, Germany, and Spain to Morocco and the Canaries.
Thomsonfly (www.thomsonfly.com) - England and Scotland to Egypt, Morocco, and the Canaries.
FlyGlobeSpan (www.flyglobespan.com) - Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Durham, and Glasgow to the Canaries, plus Edinburgh to Egypt.
Virgin Atlantic (www.virgin-atlantic.com) - Flights from London to South Africa (Cape Town and Johannesburg), Nigeria, Kenya, Mauritius.
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This material was last updated April 2006. All information was accurate at the time.
Copyright © 1998-2008 by Reid Bramblett. All rights reserved.
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