British Airways is launching a subsidiary called “Open Skies Airline” that will be a transatlantic luxury-service airline. The airline is taking advantage of the transatlantic “open skies” agreement(or EU-US Open Skies Agreement between European Union and United States.
The first flight starts today, Thursday June 19th 2008 from Paris’ Orly airport to New York’s JFK airport. The aircraft flown will be a Boeing 757 with just 82 seats. “There will be 24 passengers in business class, where their seats will
convert into fully-flat beds, while the premium plus passengers will
have extra legroom. The economy section will consist of just 30 seats, allowing passengers more room and more service.” (from here). More on the seats configurations – Read here
BA is considering other European destinations like “Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt and Milan” for the subsidiary airline.
British Airways seems to be following the business model of all-business transatlantic flights of now-bankrupt airlines Silverjet, MAXjet and Eos.
Excerpts from RTE Business –
“The open skies deal between EU and the US came into effect at the
end of March 2008 after years of negotiation. Before, it would not have
been possible for BA or any other EU carrier to fly direct to America
from a destination outside their own country. The deal has also allowed any EU or US airline to use Heathrow Airport in west London for flights to America.“
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