Austrian Low-Cost Carrier Level Europe Shuts Down, Files for Insolvency

Vienna Airport from the air

Level Europe filed for insolvency and shut down operations on Thursday without any advance warning, although it had not flown since being grounded amidst the coronavirus pandemic in March.

“Level Europe will enter insolvency on June 18, 2020,” the airline said on its website. “All flights have been grounded as of March 2020 and the Austrian business has ceased trading with immediate effect.”

The Austrian carrier, which is owned by Vueling and, by extension, British Airways’ parent International Airlines Group, operated short-haul flights within Europe from its bases at Vienna International Airport and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.

At the time it ceased operations, the airline had an all-Airbus fleet of four A320 aircraft and two A321 planes.

The airline was founded in November 2017 as a Vueling subsidiary and was to be branded “Vueling Austria” had IAG been successful in acquiring defunct airline Niki and its assets. Instead, it was branded Anisec Luftfahrt and rebranded Level Austria at the end of last year. It began flying in July 2018 and opening the Schiphol base in April 2019.

Papers were filed in Landesgericht Korneuberg, a regional court in Korneuberg, Austria, which is in Niederösterreich, or Lower Austria.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)