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Air travelers in Costa Rica have a few options when flying to Europe, but none of them are as cheap as what an airline from Norway has in store for 2017. According to a recent Reuters report published by NBC News:

Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA hopes to sell one-way tickets to Europe for $69 as early as 2017 by flying from U.S. airports that have low fees, Chief Executive Officer Bjørn Kjos said in an interview Tuesday. Europe’s third-largest budget airline is considering flights to Edinburgh and Bergen, Norway from U.S. airports that have little to no international service today, such as New York’s Westchester County Airport and Connecticut’s Bradley International Airport, just north of Hartford, Kjos said.

The Norwegian airline is currently one of the busiest budget airlines in Europe, and they have a good reputation in terms of traveler comfort and customer service, which are two aspects of air travel that passengers understand they must not expect when taking advantage of ultra-cheap tickets. Still, Norwegian Air’s plans to cut tickets down to less than the cost of an average overnight stay at a hotel are unheard of.

How can Norwegian Air deliver such low prices and remain profitable? Some doubts are already emerging in this regard. Writing for business news giant Forbes, Kathryn Creedy posits:

The average price of a ticket to Europe from the U.S. on European Low-Cost Carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle is $500 […] pretty good by today’s trans-Atlantic standards and notably close to what was paid back in the 1970s. The big question is whether or not it will work and it is entirely understandable that the rest of the industry is shaking its head in doubt because, at $69, they know it won’t.

Ms. Creedy goes on to explain that major airlines such as American, United and Delta, which all fly to Costa Rica, have been paying attention to how Norwegian Air is doing business. It so happens that Norwegian Air was the first carrier to offer discount trans-Atlantic flights. Other European airlines have copied this model with occasional flights to the Caribbean.

What Norwegian Air seems to be doing is courting smaller airports in both Europe and the United States for the purpose of disruption. In a purely capitalistic move, Norwegian Air may seek to hurt the profits of major airlines while at the same time hurting its own bottom line. The idea could be to eventually force a merger or alliance that can attract enough cash to pay off debts, fund handsome bonuses, cover operations, and establish reserves.

With the above in mind, travelers should start putting away their change in a piggy bank before 2017.