OpenSkies - British Airways Flights Paris to New York
O penSkies is a British Airways subsidiary airline
which flies from Paris to New York. The airline started flying in June 2008
as a consequence of the "open skies" deregulation of routes between
the EU and US.
In its short history, OpenSkies has had a variety of cabin configurations - from June 19th 2012 it will revert back to a 3 class cabin - a business class flat seat, a top-end premium economy seat and a standard economy section.
OpenSkies operates twice daily flights between Paris Orly (ORY) and New York Newark (EWR) under the "EC" IATA code.
It uses 4 narrow body Boeing 757-200s with added winglets to increase fuel efficiency. The new 3 class seating products are as follows:
Class | Seat
Pitch | Seat
Width | Recline | Config | Seats
(Rows) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Biz Bed | Business | 73" | 20" | 180º
flat | 2-2 | 20
(5) |
| Prem Plus | Premium
Economy | 52" | 20" | 130º | 2-2 | 28
(7) |
| Eco | Economy | N/A* | N/A | N/A | 3-3 | 66
(11) |
*we await confirmation of the new Eco seat pitch, hopefully it will be around the 33-35" mark rather than 31-32".
Prem Plus is one of the best premium economy products on the market and is fine for a transatlantic day flight. Note that the recline of Prem Plus is slightly less than the old Biz Seat's 140º. All seats have a universal power outlet and an iPad with 70 hours of entertainment is available for each passenger.
Photo credit: Flickr PhillipC
Lounge Access with OpenSkies - Currently all OpenSkies passengers (business + premium economy) have complimentary lounge access - this will change from June 2012, when presumably economy passengers will not get access.
At Paris Orly there is the OpenSkies/Salon ICARE lounge near gate A10 with drinks/snacks and free WiFi. The dedicated lounge at Newark can be found at Arrivals Hall level 2 - light dining and free WiFi available.
Return prices from Paris (New York) will set you back from around: €750 ($1,350) for Eco, €1,250 ($1,775) for Prem Plus, and €2,500 ($5,100) for Biz Bed. However do watch for special offers which can be significantly cheaper. Openskies also offers the option of first class TGV transfers to 14 French cities.
British Airways Executive Club members can earn Avios miles and tier points, but OpenSkies is not part of the Oneworld alliance.
For some further background to OpenSkies, the following gives a historic timeline of the airline:
Date | OpenSkies
|
|---|---|
| 02/2012 | OpenSkies announces rebranded 3 class cabin from June 2012: Eco/Prem Plus/Biz. |
| 01/2012 | OpenSkies start codeshare agreement with American Airlines (AA). |
| 10/2011 | OpenSkies suspends Paris - Washington route. |
| 09/2011 | OpenSkies announces it will close Paris - Washington service by end October. |
| 03/2011 | OpenSkies carries its 200,000th passenger. |
| 06/2010 | OpenSkies partners with SNCF for TGV train connections. |
| 05/2010 | Paris - Washington flights commence. |
| 02/2010 | Paris - Washington Dulles service announced for May 2010. |
| 01/2010 | OpenSkies moves all JFK services to Newark airport. |
| 12/2009 | After seeking new investors BA announces they will retain full ownership of EC. |
| 08/2009 | Amsterdam-New York service suspended 2 months earlier than previously planned. |
| 07/2009 | BA announces it will stop the Amsterdam - New York service from October 2009. |
| 04/2009 | OpenSkies rebrands biz to "Biz Bed" and prem+ to "Biz Seat". |
| 04/2009 | L'Avion is "fully merged" into the OpenSkies brand. |
| 01/2009 | BA announces plan to sell some B757 aircraft originally earmarked for OpenSkies. |
| 11/2008 | British Airways announces curtailment of OpenSkies route network expansion. |
| 10/2008 | OpenSkies starts flying Amsterdam to New York JFK. |
| 10/2008 | OpenSkies scraps economy in favour of a 2 class cabin - premium economy "prem+" and business class "biz". |
| 07/2008 | BA's OpenSkies buys L'Avion (Elsyair) for €68 million. |
| 06/2008 | OpenSkies (EC) starts flying a 3-class service from Paris to New York JFK. |
| 05/2008 | British Airways OpenSkies tickets go on sale. |
| 05/2008 | All business airline rival Silverjet runs out of cash. |
| 04/2008 | All business rival EOS Airlines goes bust. |
| 04/2008 | Official US-EU Open Skies agreement comes into effect. |
| 12/2007 | All business airline rival Maxjet goes bust. |
| 01/2007 | L'Avion (A0) flights between Paris and New York take off. |
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OpenSkies remains a niche player in the transatlantic business market but has an interesting and sometimes, cost-effective product.
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