L'Avion / OpenSkies - Business Class Flights Paris to New York
| L'Avion flies an all business class service from Paris Orly to New York Newark. The carrier has recently been bought out by British Airways for €68 million and will be slowly integrated into 'OpenSkies', BA's Euro-based subsidiary. |
L'Avion took off in January 2007 and currently flies a 12-times weekly service from Paris Orly South to New York Newark, timetabled as follows:
Paris
Orly (ORY) to New York Newark (EWR) Depart 1340 Arrive 1610 Daily
Depart
1740 Arrive 2010 (Not Tuesday/Saturday)
Newark (EWR) to Paris Orly (ORY)
Depart 1905 Arrive 0840 (+1) Daily
Depart 2205 Arrive 1140 (+1) (Not Tuesday/Saturday)
OpenSkies also flies a 3-class daily service from Orly to New York JFK.
Both L'Avion and OpenSkies use Boeing 757s - the aircraft is reasonably fuel efficient and well suited to medium-haul routes such as Europe to the East Coast US. The L'Avion cabin has 90 seats in a 2-2 configuration. Seat pitch comes in at 48" - this is around the same level as BA's OpenSkies Premium Economy - and the L'Avion chair has a similar recline angle of 140 degrees, maybe limiting to those used to flat seats. Some time in the future the L'Avion aircraft will be converted to the OpenSkies configuration.
Passengers on L'Avion receive a 4 course meal on board with a selection of French wines and champagne. In-flight entertainment is provided by a hand-held digEplayer system - note, noise cancelling headphones are not currently provided. At Paris Orly you have use of the Icare lounge.
The lowest prices (at the moment) will set you back around $1,550 return from New York and €1,180 return from Paris. Introductory offer prices have been as low as $1,000 and €1,000 return all in. OpenSkies Biz class is priced from €2,300 / $3,700 return.
In terms of alternatives, Air France, American Airlines, and Continental - come in at around €2,400 - € 4,000 for a return business class fare. Air India flies from Paris to New York and you can get fares around the €2,000 / $3,000 level.
Flyers will also be able to connect to the extensive budget network from Paris Orly to all over Europe. Airlines that serve Orly are Easyjet, SkyEurope, ThomsonFly and Air Berlin.
Paris - New York is a popular business route and L'Avion had been able to gain a small market share with load factors of almost 80%. With BA's purchase their future looks assured - this also means there are no independent all-business class airlines left.
If you are looking at getting some good value business class fares from New York to Paris, then you may want to consider L'Avion.
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