The Battle for the Future of Airlines Is Still Being Fought Over the Atlantic
Photo Credit: Interior rendering of IAG's new long-haul, low-cost carrier Level. IAG
Skift Take
For economic reasons, the transatlantic aviation market has been a hotbed of innovation since the first direct flight almost 100 years ago. Building on the foundations set before, the new disrupters believe we are on the verge of a huge change. Will it last?
One week before the UK Prime Minister triggered her country's departure from the European Union, and less than two weeks before our inaugural Skift Forum Europe, we launched a series of four stories devoted to Resetting Transatlantic Travel.
Our second story analyses the changes in transatlantic aviation and the new role of low-cost, long-haul operators.
In 1913, British newspaper The Daily Mail came up with an idea that it hoped would advance development in the aviation industry. Under the leadership of Lord Northcliffe, the publication had already offered up a number of prizes in the field but its latest offer was set to be its most adventurous yet.
The sum of £10,000 (more than $1.3 million in today’s money) would be given to anyone who could cross the Atlantic “from any point in the United States, Canada, or Newfoundland to any point in Great Britain or Ireland in seventy-two continuous hours.”
The outbreak of the F
