'OpenSkies' - new airline
 

'New premium airline to begin flights in June'

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/break.../19008234.html ((*))

The new airline was announced months ago. This one may survive because it has the backing of British Airways, but it will probably be another nail in the coffin for L'Avion Airlines (www.lavion.com).

I did a search before I posted, but I don't know how I missed it. Sorry. ((*))

AAFF,

OpenSkies are actually codesharing with l'Avion:
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5...46nUqBXKIaPYgw

That said, I think both ventures are doomed, unfortunately.

I never saw this post back when it was current, though I did make reference to my thoughts (in January) that www.openskies.com looked like an option I would consider on the thread about my trip with first-timer brother and SIL.

And I have quite forgotten about them - - having decided instead on fares to/from London on AA partly because they offered a price I found attractive for biz-class outbound with coach return.

But I see that www.openskies.com is advertising on www.nytimes.com today - - I suppose they won't go belly up in the next month or two (will they? - - not so much a case of bankruptcy is the actual threat, come to think of it... but BA simply pulling the plug)...

I wonder what they're saying over on the www.flyertalk.com website?

I'll take a look...

Best wishes,

Rex

No new insights there... but the paradox I described on www.flyertalk.com six weeks ago seems to be resolved. The fare is more or less the same now whether you try top book on www.lavion.com or on www.flyopenskies.com or on www.britishairways.com - - about $1250-ish for "biz-class"("ish"), actually desingated as "prem+" by all three sites - - and it looks to be available all syummer long? or certainly on into some arbitrary July dates I tried (unexpected, since originally, this was to have been an introductory promotional fare good only through May 31).

Haven't heard about them, except people on airlines.net say some loads are very light. At least some flights depart with as few as 6 passengers.

And BA will sell or retire its own 757 fleet by end of 2009. So, at the least, it doesn't seem they'll be expanding openskies any time soon.

The good thing is that there's little risk of booking with them, unlike Maxjet, Eos or Silverjet. Worst case scenario, BA pulls the plug and put you on a BA flight to LHR and connecting you to Paris or Amsterdam.