NEWS | Wednesday, 04 June 2008

OpenSkies to take flight on June 19

New airline from British Airways launches ticket sales for Premium Transatlantic travel

OpenSkies, the new transatlantic airline from British Airways, will take flight on June 19. Tickets for premium flights between Paris and New York on OpenSkies are for sale on www.flyopenskies.com. Bookings can also be made through travel agents, all British Airways channels including the BA.com website, and via the OpenSkies Concierge Desk. OpenSkies features personalised services to all customers from the purchase of their ticket throughout their entire journey.
With no more than 82 passengers on each flight, OpenSkies will offer a unique travel experience between Paris’ Orly Airport and New York’s JFK Airport. The company’s simplified pricing approach is designed to provide true value for money compared with what has been traditionally offered by the long-time incumbent carriers operating on the Paris-New York route. OpenSkies will feature three cabins: Biz - a business class service featuring the only fully lie-flat beds in that market, will be offered at prices starting from €2269 roundtrip; Prem+ - a completely new service category featuring reclining seats with a 52” pitch will be offered from €1159 roundtrip; Econom - featuring a cabin containing only thirty seats that will be offered at prices beginning from EUR830 roundtrip.
All prices include fuel, insurance and security surcharges and have limited availability but require only seven days advance purchase.
“Transatlantic travelers looking for a comfortable and intimate in-flight experience will have a place in the skies to call home,” said Dale Moss, Managing Director of OpenSkies.
“We’re excited about connecting customers in two of the world’s great business and cultural capitals on the first new airline borne out of the Open Skies agreement. With 6-foot, fully-flat beds in business class, personal entertainment units with more than 50 hours of programming throughout all cabins, and a healthy, creative menu, we’re focused on delivering value and creating a memorable, personal travel experience on every trip. Our new Prem+ cabin will compete with what our competitors offer as business class but at a much more compelling price point.”
OpenSkies will initially operate one daily round-trip flight on a fuel-efficient Boeing 757. A second Boeing 757 is scheduled to join OpenSkies later this year from the British Airways fleet and it is planned that there will be six OpenSkies aircraft in total by the end of 2009. OpenSkies plans to serve additional routes from European cities including Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt and Milan to New York. OpenSkies is the first airline created as a result of the Open Skies agreement, which allows airlines to fly between any U.S. and E.U. destination.