Last December I posted about the new Open Skies regulations that allow European airlines to fly to the US from countries other than their own.
ARTICLE: Opening the Skies, Barron's, changes to flights to EuropeToday
OpenSkies, a wholly owned subsidiary of British Airways (BA), starts service with direct flights from New York (JFK) to Paris (Orly) - one flight a day. They plan to expand to flying from New York to several European destinations.
OpenSkies offers a premium 3-class service - Economy, Prem+, Biz - on fuel-efficient Boeing 757s, redesigned to reduce the standard 180 seat configuration to 82 seats. Biz (business class) has 24 seats (convert into flatbeds), Prem+ (premium economy) has 28 seats (wider seats with more recline and legroom than usually Premium Economy), Economy has 30 seats.
Strange to see this new premium airline starting with the recent failures of business-class only airlines MaxJet and EOS, and the almost failure of SilverJet, but OpenSkies is different because it is offering 3 classes of service, not just 1. In Economy and Prem+ the prices are higher than flying on British Airways through London, to Paris. And lots of other airlines offer direct service from New York to Paris - so it will be interesting to see the reactions to this new airline.
I have more details on my
Blog.
