British Airways’ all-business class from London to New York – is the OpenSkies brand dying?

British Airways announced yesterday that they will be launching all-business class flights from London to New York City in September. It will operate A318s fitted with 32 lie-flat seats on the route.

Why it makes some business sense?
Given that the likes of Silverjet and MaxJet have gone bust plying this route offers a couple of insights. Firstly, there’s inherent demand (we all know that) and that’s why these airlines could actually fly for some time. Secondly, it was largely British Airways and Virgin Atlantic that drove these airlines out of business. That means BA has less competition to deal with – just Virgin Atlantic. And that’s the opportunity.

Why it doesn’t make a lot of business sense?
We all know that OpenSkies is an all-business class airline that’s a subsidiary of British Airways. We also know that OpenSkies bought the French airline L’Avion to expand its business. Moreover, it wasn’t flying London-New York routes, but only New York-Amsterdam and New York – Paris, so as not to compete with British Airways. I feel that when BA decided to dive into the market with an all-business class service, they should have tapped on the OpenSkies brand.

Wouldn’t it be …