Approves First Carrier To Take Advantage Of Open Skies Agreement

On Monday, British Airways' new business-class transatlantic airline, OpenSkies, received approval from the US Department of Transportation to begin operations. The new airline will offer flights between Paris' Orly Airport and New York's JFK Airport starting in June.

"We are delighted to receive approval for take-off and sincerely appreciate the DOT's efficiency and careful consideration in reviewing our application," said Dale Moss, Managing Director of OpenSkies. "As the first airline to be created as a result of the Open Skies agreement, this is a huge step forward as we work to make history and set a new industry standard across the Atlantic. We look forward to bringing travelers an intimate, personalized and premium travel experience between Paris and New York starting in just a few weeks."

The Department of Transportation also approved OpenSkies' codeshare arrangement with French airline L'Avion. L'Avion's code will be placed on OpenSkies' flights between Orly and JFK. "We are extremely pleased and gratified by the DOT's quick review of our application for a codeshare arrangement with L'Avion," Moss added.

Formal approval by the DOT enables OpenSkies to start selling tickets for its services. The company will start taking bookings next week, via its website or by phone.

OpenSkies will initially operate one Boeing 757, outfitted with 82 seats in three business-traveler-minded classes. 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 service additional routes from European cities including Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt and Milan to New York.

FMI: www.flyopenskies.com, www.dot.gov