For falling fares look to Europe’s upstarts

UPSTART carriers, which may have unfamiliar names but offer low prices, have begun flying between continents, not just within them.

Though America’s pricecutting Southwest, JetBlue, AirTran and Spirit largely have confined themselves to flights within North America, no fewer than seven European upstarts are now crossing the Atlantic.

The phenomenon is of interest primarily to travel junkies (backpackers, budgeteers who seek to save by flying on little-known carriers), but the trend bears watching. More mainstream Americans will want to take advantage of the savings to cities and countries that historically haven’t been low-cost-air destinations.

The carriers fly mainly from Eastern gateways, but there are some exceptions. You can, for instance, find low-cost flights to Germany and Scotland from Palm Springs.

Among the other itineraries available: You can fly, for instance, from New York to Madrid for as little as $238 round trip (plus taxes and surcharges) on a Spanish airline called Air Plus Comet (www.airplususa.com), or from Las Vegas to Frankfurt, Germany, for $429 (taxes and fees included) on the German carrier Condor (www.condor.de). Such choices can result in savings of at least $400 on round-trip flights.

The upstart airlines flying the Atlantic aren’t always mentioned on major airfare search engines such as Travelocity, Expedia or Orbitz; you must, in many cases, go directly to the airlines’ websites to ferret out flights and rates. But by doing so, you might enjoy a big advantage. Consider the following:

* To Germany: Condor, a member of the Thomas Cook group, is offering year-round low-cost flights from Germany to Orlando and Fort Myers in Florida and seasonal flights between Germany and Las Vegas.

* Again to Germany: LTU, www.ltu.com, founded in 1955 and flying from the U.S. since 1990, flies mainly to its hub of Dusseldorf but also operates direct flights from the U.S. to the German cities of Dresden, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart and Berlin, as well as Vienna and Zurich, Switzerland. Its main U.S. departure city is New York, but there are also less frequent flights from Los Angeles and Palm Springs, as well as Fort Myers and Miami in Florida and Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto in Canada -- all usually at considerable savings.

* To Italy: Eurofly, www.euroflyusa.com, founded in 1989, is a former charter branch of the Italian national airline Alitalia. It now offers scheduled transatlantic flights from New York to Italy: Milan, Rome, Bologna, Naples and Palermo. Flights usually are less expensive compared with those of the standard carriers.

* To the Netherlands: Martinair, www.martinairusa.com is a well-respected charter company connecting Holland and Florida since the 1960s. Daily low-cost flights are operated to Amsterdam from Miami and Orlando; several per week are from Canada (Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver and Edmonton).

* To Britain: FlyGlobeSpan, www.flyglobespan.com flies periodically between Las Vegas and Glasgow, Scotland.

Zoom, www.flyzoom.com, flies at low cost from most major Canadian cities to London; Glasgow; Belfast, Ireland; and Manchester, England, plus Toronto to Cardiff, Wales.

* To France: Zoom also operates low-cost flights from Toronto and Montreal to Paris.