OpenSkies - British Airways Flights Paris, Amsterdam to New York
OpenSkies is a British Airways subsidiary which flies from mainland Europe to the USA. This operation took off in June 2008 and is a consequence of the recent "open skies" deregulation of routes between the EU and US. |
Open Skies operates daily flights from Paris Orly to New York JFK using a Boeing 757. Seating configuration is as follows:
24 'Biz' business class (73" flat seat)
28 'Prem+' premium economy (a generous 52" pitch with 140' recline) and
30 economy seats for a total of 82 passengers.
From October 1st the number of Prem+ seats will rise to 40 and the economy seats will no longer be available. So total passengers will be reduced to 64.
OpenSkies has an 'a la carte' meal menu for Biz passengers and every passenger is provided with an entertainment system with over 50 hours of video and audio. Premium passengers have also use of the OpenSkies personal concierge service.
There are 3 types of tickets available in each of the 3 classes - fully flexible, semi flexible and restricted. Fully flexible in Biz costs around €3,300 with restricted coming in at €2,300 / $3,700.
Restricted Premium Economy comes in at €1,300 / $2,300 whilst the lowest restricted economy fares are under €600 / $1,000 - but many dates are already sold out. With such a small number of passengers premium economy looks very good value and has had rave reviews.
Executive Club members will earn BA miles with OpenSkies, but the airline is not part of the oneworld alliance.
BA plans to have 6 aircraft in service by the end of 2009 - the next route will be a 6-x-weekly service to New York from Amsterdam - flights kick off on October 15th but go on sale in August. Future Euro destinations possibly could be Brussels, Frankfurt and Milan.
Open Skies recently bought out French all-business carrier L'Avion (which flies twice daily from Paris to NYC by Boeing 757) for €68 million. L'Avion will be slowly integrated into the OpenSkies fold over the next 12 months and will give BA a better foothold in Paris to take on rival Air France. It is interesting that they have chosen Amsterdam Schiphol - another Air France - KLM stronghold as the next target.
With other EU and US airlines coming into London Heathrow we shall see how BA's high quality product can fare from Europe in the next couple of years.
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