OpenSkies is a subsidiary airline of British Airways which began operations on 19 June 2008 using a single Boeing 757 transferred from the BA fleet. The airline will initially fly between Paris-Orly Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport in the United States. The airline will be a full-service carrier and will offer business class, premium economy and economy cabins. British Airways have also confirmed that they are looking at operating services from other European cities, including Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Madrid, Brussels, Rome and Milan.
The routes that OpenSkies intends to fly are only possible because of the recent open skies agreements between the European Union and the United States governments which permit any American or European airline to operate services to and from any European or American location. The availability of landing slots limits the impact of the agreement at certain airports, such as London Heathrow Airport.
"Project Lauren" was the code-name for OpenSkies when it was first planned by British Airways. British Airways' wanted to reduce the over-dependence on their Heathrow Airport hub by flying between the United States and cities in continental Europe. The bypass was only able to be done after an open skies treaty between the United States the European Union would allow any airline to fly between airports in the two continents starting in March 2008.
The new airline was initially rumoured to be planning business-class-only flights, with the first flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York to Orly Airport in Paris; the inaugural flight starting in New York on 19 June 2008. However, the airline changed its plans to include a very small five row section of economy class seats in the rear of the aircraft in addition to premium economy and business class seats. This differs from the tactic of other existing business-class-only carriers flying from Europe to the United States. British Airways questioned the viability of all business class carriers after the failures/bankruptcies of MAXjet and Eos Airlines
OpenSkies initially intends to operate a single model of aircraft, the Boeing 757. British Airways has transfered one Boeing 757 aircraft for the start of operations in June, with an additional aircraft to be transferred to OpenSkies by December 2008, and a further 4 aircraft in service by December 2009. BA intends to transfer all of the aircraft from its existing fleet, replacing them with new Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft. The Boeing 757 aircraft will be fitted with blended winglets to increase range, improve fuel consumption and decrease CO2 emissions, and the cabin will be altered to provide 82 seats in 3 classes, down from the 180 seat configuration at present.
The fleet retains the "Chatham Dockyard" tail fin livery, but features a grey underbody instead of the dark blue that features on British Airways fleet and has red winglets. The first Boeing 757 was named Lauren after Project Lauren which started OpenSkies
qHyux_C9gAE
- yurges thanks for the love!
(your videos are awesome)