The Lufthansa group of airlines is expanding its “Economy Light” fare to routes to Africa, Asia, the Middle East and South America. The basic economy fare will be progressively available on intercontinental routes operated by Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa and SWISS from October 30 and from November 6 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The fare has been available for North America since summer 2018 and the airline says it is the cheapest choice for price-conscious passengers who want to travel with hand luggage only and do not require ticket flexibility. “The new tariff can be booked exclusively via austrian.com, lh.com and swiss.com as well as with our sales partners, for whom the fares are available via the direct interface (Direct NDC API),’’ the airline said. READ: Air New Zealand flight to slash three hours off New York travel Passengers can book checked baggage for a fee but meals and beverages on board remain free of charge. Charges for checked baggage can be hefty and on an intercontinental flight, they are 50 euros or $US60 for the first item and 90 euros or $US100 for the second. Advanced seat selection and extra legroom seats also cost more and the ticket cannot be rebooked and is non-refundable. Basic economy fares were introduced by some full-service airlines in response to aggressive competition by low-cost-carriers for price-sensitive customers. Delta Air Lines introduced the option in 2012 and was followed by other major US carriers. Basic economy fares were extended to trans-Atlantic routes after the arrival of competitors such as Norwegian Air. Norwegian continues to compete aggressively, and this week announced it will add a nonstop Austin Paris service for summer 2020 to complement its seasonal service to London. The flight will operate three times weekly from May 6 with one-way tax-inclusive fares as low $US219.90 in economy  and $US829.90 in premium class Austin will be Norwegian’s eighth gateway in the United States that has nonstop service to Paris. The others are Boston, Denver, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, New York JFK, Orlando and San Francisco. Separately, Lufthansa and partner Deutsche Bahn also announced additional Express Rail connections to Frankfurt airport from Aachen, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Stuttgart and Ulm. The airline said the additional services would provide Lufthansa passengers with better-coordinated connections for arrivals and departures at Frankfurt. Lufthansa Express Rail offers feeder trains to Frankfurt Airport with integrated booking. If the train or flight is unexpectedly delayed, Lufthansa will rebook the passengers free of charge. Miles & More miles are credited and the airline's business class passengers travel in the first class of Deutsche Bahn and have access to the DB lounges. The changes in mid-December will see 119 Lufthansa Express trains to Frankfurt Airport from Cologne’s central station every week instead of the current 77, while the connections offered on the route to and from Dusseldorf will be doubled to 105 ICE trains. Customers from Stuttgart will be able to use 77 connections a week and there will be 42 and 49 Express Rail trains a week to and from Aachen and Ulm, respectively. The airline said all routes were already available for booking.