Transatlantic tips

It’s been a dramatic weekend at Icelandic low-cost carrier Play.

This week marked the start of two new transatlantic routes from JetBlue: Nonstop flights to Dublin from New York’s JFK and Boston.

Travel prices across Europe have started to decline, following months of continuous hikes in air fares and hotel rates. However, they’re expected to remain highly volatile for several years as the market undergoes a correction.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Wednesday, April 12. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

Editors’ Note: On October 1, 2018, Primera Air announced it will cease operations immediately. The following story was published on September 11, 2018.

If you’re looking for yet another reason to cross the Atlantic, WOW Air just gave you one: The Icelandic-based airline is expanding low transatlantic fares and “second city” air routes.

Planning a trip to Europe or beyond? If you’re looking to tack on an extra destination to your itinerary, it’s easier than you might think. Portuguese carrier TAP is adding flight stopovers in Lisbon and Porto to all of its transatlantic routes, with added freebies like hotel discounts and free wine from their partners if you do choose to stop in either locale.

Good news, kids! Your parents were wrong: You can have chocolate for dinner. Well, so long as you’re flying British Airways.

Low-cost carrier Norwegian Air will introduce new direct service from Boston’s Logan International Airport to Copenhagen, Oslo, and London (Gatwick) this May, making it Boston’s largest international airline. Norwegian joins other low-cost carriers like WOW Air in targeting Boston as its gateway to Europe.

Two fast-growing budget carriers that serve the U.S. from Europe, Norwegian and WOW Air, both recently announced cancellations of several transatlantic routes.

The new transatlantic low-fare line, Level, has started flying from its Barcelona base to Los Angeles and Oakland. This summer, it operates three times a week from Oakland and twice from Los Angeles. Schedules follow the usual pattern: overnight to Europe, daytime return.

Norwegian Air, the growing low-cost carrier known for low fares to Europe, is adding two new destinations: Chicago, Illinois, and Austin, Texas.

Soon, you’ll be able to fly from New York to London in about three hours—again. An ambitious group of enthusiasts, engineers, and financiers announced a plan to build a new supersonic transport (SST) aptly named “Boom.” The trade press reports that a half-scale demonstrator and test vehicle, called the XB-1, will fly sometime next year. Presumably, a production version will fly within a few more years, and a lot sooner than the typical timetable for big-plane development at Airbus and Boeing would dictate.