British Airways to launch open skies airline

A new subsidiary airline focusing on routes opened up by the Europe-US open skies pact is set to be launched by British Airways later this year.

The carrier said that it intends to operate flights from Brussels and Paris to New York through the OpenSkies airline from June 2008, subject to regulatory approval.

This news may be of interest to travellers making their way from the UK to countries in Europe and then to the USA, rather than directly from the UK.

British Airways said the flights will be operated by Boeing 757 aircraft capable of carrying up to 82 passengers each in economy, premium economy and business class cabins.

"By naming the airline OpenSkies, we're celebrating the first major step in 60 years towards a liberalised US-EU aviation market, which means we can fly between any US and EU destination," commented Willie Walsh, chief executive of British Airways.

Under the open skies pact agreed last year, any airline based in the European Union (EU) will be able to fly from any EU city to any city in the USA from March this year.

The agreement has already seen a number of airlines announce the launch of new flights between the UK and the USA in recent months.

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