AirTravelGenius Blog

Tomorrow sees the inaugral flight of “OpenSkies“, British Airways’ European based project and a result of the open skies agreement between the EU and US. OpenSkies will fly daily from Paris Orly to New York JFK using a 3-class Boeing 757.

OpenSkies has linked up with all-biz L’Avion (code-sharing agreement) in order to go head-to-head against Air France at its home base. Business Class airfares on OpenSkies are available from €2,300 whilst economy fares can be found under €600.

However the real business class airfare action is happening on London - New York route. Checking prices for returns in July we see some fantastic deals available.

Air France-KLM / Delta seem to have the lowest fares (some direct flights, others via Paris) and are priced at under £1,000 / $2,000 which is excellent value (the lowest was actually £917 direct operated by Delta)

But we also found flights from Continental, British Airways, American Airlines and KLM for under £1,100 and Lufthansa and Virgin Atlantic for under £1,200.

So despite record high oil prices these business class airfares are very competitive.

European budget airline Ryanair currently has a free flights winter sale for travel between October 2008 and January 2009. The sale runs until midnight Thursday 19th June (and has actually been running for 2 weeks having been extended 3 times already…)

The “free flights” are actually free, meaning no taxes/charges are payable. The trick to keeping your flight cost low on Ryanair is not to check-in any luggage…you will then only have to pay a credit card fee (£3.20 per person) or debit card fee (£1.20 per person) for your payment. If you have a Visa Electron card then payment is free.

Note, the cabin baggage allowance is 10kg with maximum dimensions of 55cm x 40cm x 20cm. Also check with your airport for restrictions on carrying liquids on flights departing the EU/EEA.

Ryanair also allows you to purchase an extra seat for comfort (must be booked with the name Mr Extra Seat) but no more baggage allowance is gained.

Ryanair’s fees are as follows per segment:

Airport Check-in £4 (online check-in free for pax with no luggage)

Priority Boarding Fee £4

Infant (under 2) Fee £16

Checked bag up to 15kg £8

Checking in 2 bags up to 15kg £24

Checking in 3 bags up to 15kg £40

Excess baggage fee £12 per kilo

So by checking in one piece of luggage on a return flight would cost an additional £24.

Note, the sale is available for selected flight routes all over Europe, not just from the UK and Ireland.

It’s been a bad few months for small independent airlines, particularly those in the all-business class segment. With oil prices well over $130 per barrel and predicted to rise further, as well as the tightening credit conditions, airlines are struggling to turn a profit.

The first all-biz airline to stop operations was actually OzJet in 2006, an Australian start-up which served the business market between Sydney and Melbourne. Unable to grab a good share of the market it shut its doors after a few months. The airline was sold and resurfaced as a charter outfit.

Maxjet was a budget all-business class airline based at London Stansted and served New York, Washington DC, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Fares were cheap (premium economy levels) and the airline managed to survive just over 2 years. On Christmas Eve 2007 the airline shut down. The name was sold on and will now become a charter service for US college athletes.

EOS Airlines, a first class operation using 48 seat 757s to serve Stansted and NYC survived for 2 1/2 years before closing in April 2008 unable to attain additional funding. EOS prices had been dropping but with fuel costs rising and only 48 potential revenue seats on board, market conditions caught up with the carrier.

Silverjet, the British all-business class airline based at Luton which flew to Newark and Dubai went under last month after operating for less than 18 months. Flying 25 year old fuel inefficient 767s meant it was running at a loss and investors pulled the plug on finance.

This year has also seen the demise of Oasis Hong Kong Airlines, the budget operator which flew from Hong Kong to London Gatwick and Vancouver. Oasis operated both an economy class and a business class service on its 747s. Whether the budget long-haul model is sustainable only time will tell - Air Asia X and the likes of Zoom Airlines are still in business.

The only all-business class airline currently operating transatlantic is L’Avion, from Paris to Newark. It has signed a marketing agreement with British Airways who will soon operate their own 3 class ‘OpenSkies‘ service from Paris to New York.

Privatair operates various all-business class flights on behalf of Lufthansa, Swiss and KLM.

It seems only those services backed by major airlines can survive the current market conditions. We are likely to see a lot more consolidation in the general aviation industry especially if oil continues towards $200 per barrel.

This year’s UEFA Champions League final on May 21st is an all ‘English’ affair. It is expected that 40,000 fans from Chelsea and Manchester United will travel to Moscow.

With direct flights from London to Moscow being limited and around the £1,000 mark for those dates, football fans are scrabbling to book flight and travel itineraries. And flights through central Europe are filling up fast.

Let’s look at a few different options where you can currently get from London to Moscow for under £400. Note you will find cheaper flights leaving Moscow on the 23rd, as everyone seems to want to leave on the 22nd:

Fly with Ryanair up to Riga in Latvia which depending on dates will currently cost from £130 return. You could take the gruelling 18 hour train journey to Moscow which will cost around £100 return. Or get a round-trip with Aeroflot from Riga to Moscow for £219 (departs 20^th, returns 23^rd) for a total price from £349.

Another alternative is to fly via Istanbul on 2 separate return tickets. You could fly London to Istanbul with Turkish Airlines for £163 (out 19^th, back 24^th) and book a separate return ticket Istanbul – Moscow on Aeroflot for £204 (out 20^th, back 23^rd) for a total cost £367.

Fly from London Luton to Budapest for £87 with Wizz Air (out 19^th, back 24^th) and then get a return with Aeroflot to Moscow for £215 (out 20^th, back 23^rd), total price £302.

Another route is to fly down to Barcelona (can be done via Girona from £25 on Ryanair) and use Spanish budget Clickair to fly to Moscow for 130 euros which lands at 6am on the 21^st. Note budget airlines can have delays so this could be risky! Total one-way cost approximately £130. There is a very reasonable one-way flight back to London from Moscow on SAS (via Stockholm) for £136 on the 23^rd. Total price will be around £266.

Alternatively you could hire a private jet from an air charter operator or through a broker. For a listing of top UK companies see UK Charter Guide.

Don’t forget to do your homework concerning visa requirements.

With the recent demise of all-business Maxjet and EOS Airlines, let’s take a quick look at what deals you can get for June 2008 in business class on flights between London and New York.

Silverjet offers its twice daily service from Luton to Newark. Prices are currently quoted from £1,299 return on Silverjet’s website (£999 has been frequently available, but it looks like they have put the price up with EOS and Maxjet out of the way - however watch for special offers). Also check the major online agents like Travelocity as you may find slightly cheaper deals - we found a price of £1,200.

If you are a Skyteam member, then Delta Airlines have return business class flights from LHR to NYC available from £1,250.

Icelandair have flights in their ‘Saga Class’ (business class) priced from £1,097 return all-in. Note you have to make a stop in Reykjavik, but their booking engine makes it very easy to find the cheapest fare.

On a more ‘offbeat’ note, Kuwait Airways have non-stop flights from London Heathrow to New York JFK using Boeing 777s. You can find business class flights priced from just £860 or fly in first class from around £1,200.

Air India also flies non-stop between LHR and JFK on Boeing 777s. Return tickets in ‘Executive’ (business class) can be found for just over £1,100, with first class at £1,750.

Oasis Hong Kong Airlines has gone into liquidation and has ceased flying from today. The budget carrier had started flying between London and Hong Kong in October 2006 and later added a service from Hong Kong to Vancouver.

Read more here: Oasis Suspends Flights

EOS Airlines, the all-business carrier will start flying daily from London Stansted to New York Newark from May 5th. The airline has served JFK airport to Stansted for over 2 years.

To mark this event EOS is offering a 10% discount on flights to/from Newark up to September 7th. Use the promo code ‘EWR10′ and book by April 11th.

EOS also has a mileage offer where they will give you 30,000 Club 48 points if you book a round-trip by April 11th.

Today marks the day when Singapore Airlines‘ first A380 flight arrives at London Heathrow from Singapore. According to BAA’s website flight SQ308 scheduled for 1505 is expected to land at 1444 for arrival at a special gate (’Pier 6′) at terminal 3.

Singapore has been operating the A380 Super Jumbo since October 2007 on flights between Singapore and Sydney, Australia and now has 3 aircraft in service.

If you want to fly on the A380 you can book with Singapore Airlines - return to Singapore from £570. Flights to Australia can be had from £750 return - you can fly out to Oz on the 380 as follows:

Flight SQ 317 Departs LHR 1155, Arrives SIN 0745

Flight SQ 221 Departs SIN 2035, Arrives SYD 0555

This gives you 13 hours to kill at Changi airport - you could head into the city on one of the free tours available.

If you want to return on the A380 you will pay a slight premium which will bump the price to £882.

There are some reasonable London to Los Angeles business class airfares on the market currently. With the demise of Maxjet who flew the route for under £1,000 and with the prospect of Open Skies bringing more competition let’s take a quick look:

Air France will begin a service from London Heathrow to LAX from April. You can pick up a return ticket for £1,800 in business class (£320 in economy) for travel during April. We also found an Expedia Special Fare with Air France of £1,650.

A few other airlines are pitching their business class products at this £1,800 level. You can presently find deals with British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, United Airlines and Air New Zealand. BA and Virgin have sales bookable until March 4th to a variety of destinations.

April 2008 will mark the start of ‘Open Skies‘ which finally deregulates air travel between the EU and the USA. This will mean that any EU or US airline will be able to fly whichever routes they want between the EU and the US - this should result in lower transatlantic fares for the passenger.

Consider London Heathrow where 4 airlines have had a virtual monopoly on flights to the US - British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, American Airlines and United Airlines. Come April we will see some new routes coming to the market as airlines juggle valuable take-off and landing slots.

Air France-KLM plans to fly from Heathrow to Los Angeles. In addition KLM has given some slots to its US partner Northwest Airlines which will fly from LHR to Detroit, Seattle and Minneapolis.

Fellow SkyTeam carrier Delta Airlines will fly to New York JFK and to its Atlanta hub. Continental Airlines will service New York Newark and Houston.

Meanwhile Star Alliance carrier United will add a route to Denver.

With American Airlines starting a second daily flight from London Stansted to New York from April 2008, plus the all business class airlines EOS and Silverjet (Maxjet having folded recently) there will be plenty of competition which could benefit passengers particularly in business class.

Not to be outdone British Airways is planning its own non-stop flights from mainland Europe to New York. Codenamed ‘Project Lauren’ BA will probably operate flights configured with Club World and premium economy seating from Euro hubs such as Brussels, Amsterdam and Paris. (Note, More info here: Open Skies)

One dark cloud on the horizon for airlines and passengers is the high oil price. Having recently touched $100 per barrel, BA, Virgin and United have all raised their fuel surcharges with others to follow soon. Should oil keep rising (and some analysts are predicting $150-$200 oil) then this will increase airfares worldwide.