Initial launch as a brand Level was established by IAG in response to increased competition in the low-cost long-haul market, including that of
Norwegian Long Haul. On 15 March 2017, IAG CEO
Willie Walsh announced the new brand, together with four destinations launching in June 2017 from
Barcelona–El Prat Airport (later renamed after
Josep Tarradellas in 2019). These were
Oakland,
Los Angeles,
Buenos Aires, and
Punta Cana. Walsh further noted that the brand was launched a year ahead of schedule. Rome, Paris, and Milan were also mentioned as possible locations for future expansion of the airline in Europe, together with additional routes out of Barcelona.
Long-haul expansion In line with the expressed intent to continue with future expansion by adding routes from other European cities, on 28 November 2017, Level announced flights from
Paris Orly Airport to
Montreal and
Point-à-Pitre and flights from
Barcelona to
Boston to begin from July 2018, and flights from Paris Orly to
Fort-de-France and
Newark to begin from September 2018. Flights from Paris Orly were to be operated with the AOC and crew of
OpenSkies, another airline owned by IAG. After the OpenSkies brand was retired on 2 September 2018, its operations were absorbed into the Level brand. On 1 October 2019, a service between Paris Orly and Boston was announced to begin from 31 March 2020, but reservations were later closed between the initial announcement and the planned start of service. The
COVID-19 pandemic and
its associated impacts on aviation resulted in the grounding of Level's short- and long-haul fleet, and the subsequent suspension of its operations starting in March 2020. On 8 July 2020, IAG announced that OpenSkies, the operator of Level's flights based at Paris Orly, would cease operations, with employee union negotiations and further closing procedures to begin the following week. Despite the announcement of OpenSkies' closure, ticket sales for Paris Orly-based flights operated by the airline were restarted, with operations planned to resume in October 2020, later postponed to December 2020, yet operations never resumed and ticket sales were subsequently closed completely. Level's long-haul flights that were based in Barcelona and operated by Iberia resumed on 11 September 2020, with reduced capacity. In the following months, it announced in September 2021 that its Punta Cana services would resume on 4 December 2021, and in October 2021 that it would resume its services to Los Angeles on 28 March 2022. On 19 September 2023, Level announced plans to increase its fleet to six aircraft, and with it, a new service between Barcelona and
Miami International Airport to begin on 31 March 2024.
Short-haul expansion used on since discontinued short-haul routes from
Amsterdam and
Vienna (2019). On 29 June 2018, IAG announced the launch of a new low-cost Austrian subsidiary,
Anisec Luftfahrt, to operate flights from
Vienna International Airport, branded as Level, starting from 17 July 2018. The new subsidiary had its own Austrian AOC and based four
Airbus A321 aircraft previously used by
Air Berlin and
Niki in Vienna, from which it planned to serve 14 European destinations on behalf of Level by the end of August 2018. By December 2018, however, Level announced cuts to its Vienna route network, with routes being reduced in frequency or cancelled altogether due to business figures being below expectations. On 14 March 2019, IAG confirmed plans to open a second base at
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, with seven routes already operated by
Vueling transferred from 6 April 2019 to 15 August 2019. Routes once transferred were planned to be operated under the Level brand by
Anisec Luftfahrt, with three
Airbus A320 aircraft transferred from Vueling to Level in March 2019. On 18 June 2019, during the
2019 Paris Air Show, the
International Airlines Group signed a
letter of intent to order a total of 200
Boeing 737 MAX 8 and
MAX 10 aircraft to be operated across IAG's airlines, possibly including the Level brand,
Vueling, and
British Airways, although specific allocation amounts between operating airlines were not specified. In December 2019, Anisec Luftfahrt was renamed Level Europe. On 18 June 2020, all short-haul flights operated by
Level Europe from its bases in Amsterdam and Vienna were terminated as the operating company went into liquidation.
Transformation from brand to airline On 21 November 2023, IAG announced that Level would receive its own AOC, allowing for the company to operate its own flights independently of other IAG-owned airlines, which Level's flights had been operated by since launch. Level received its own AOC on 3 December 2024, and was assigned the IATA code "LL", however the airline would continue to use the "IB" code from
Iberia prior to transitioning to its own code during 2025. ==Corporate affairs==