AirTravelGenius

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.

It uses 4 narrow body Boeing 757-200s with added winglets to increase fuel efficiency. The new 3 class seating products are as follows:

*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.
	© AirTravelGenius.com

OpenSkies remains a niche player in the transatlantic business market but has an interesting and sometimes, cost-effective product.

Air Travel Articles > Business Class > BA OpenSkies