Many low cost budget airlines as they are known have come and gone over the years, and whilst there are some hugely successful airline offering tiny prices, those airlines tend not to offer international flights.
Over in Europe the likes of EasyJet and much more noticeably Ryanair are making huge profits, however they only offer short haul flights across Europe, and whilst there has been talk of Ryanair offering international flights, they do not have the aircraft to enable them to offer such flights currently.
In the U.S. Spirit Airlines are proving the budget airline model can be successful in America, however to be honest it has taken a lot of passengers by surprise at just how stripped back their airfares are and how those additional extras such as having a snack or a drink onboard or taking luggage can increase the base fare quite dramatically!
The way in which any airline is going to be able to offer a low cost budget type of international service is if they have an infrastructure in place that will allow passengers to get from where they live to the main hub airports those airlines fly from.
One company that has been able to achieve that is Norwegian Air shuttle who offer both short haul and long haul flights across the globe. Thanks to their unique business structure they have managed to pack their planes with passengers and have reported near capacity passenger loads on their fleet of planes which in turns makers their service profitable and also sustainable too.
What has made companies such as Norwegian Air Shuttle successful however is that they have chosen to offer their international long haul flights from countries that either have very low or no air passenger related taxes, and as such the price of their tickets are often much lower than their competitors who fly to the same destinations but from some countries that have very high passenger air related taxes and fees.
We have conducted some research on just how low their plane tickets are and have found if you are prepared to book early you can get from European destinations such as Oslo in Norway to San Francisco or Vegas for £99.00 ($127, €118) one way.
Whilst there are going to be fees for taking checking in your luggage into the hold and for meals and drinks on board, if you are prepared to travel light, and take your own meals and drinks with you then you will not find any other airline offering flights that low in price.
There are some other competitors in the long haul business, and one is the Icelandic company Wow Air who have a hub in Iceland which can take people onto many US destinations having taken one of their short haul flights from several different European countries to that hub.
If you are seeking very low international flights either to the US, or from the US to Europe then you really should be considering travelling light whilst also booking your tickets well in advance by using the services or either Norwegian Air Shuttle or Wow Air!
