Jaunted

Joe Sharkey

More Coachless Flights Crossing the Atlantic

January 2, 2008 at 12:20 PM | 1 Comment

The passengers hung out to dry by Maxjet's bankruptcy may not agree, but the all-biz-class airline sector is booming. While Eos, Silverjet and L'Avion were likely popping champagne corks when the competition went belly up, they won't be as happy to hear that British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are joining the fray.

BA's secret plans--known as Project Lauren--could be introduced by next week, with transatlantic service between the New York area and a European city starting by May. Thanks to the Open Skies agreement, it's hard to say which city it might be, though Joe Sharkey at the New York Times says Paris is a possibility. (That'd put British Airways in direct competition with L'Avion.)

While Virgin is at work on something, details are still a bit sketchy. In the meantime, the existing boutique carriers are acquiring more planes and looking to expand, making a stylish flight to Europe more available than ever.

Related Stories:
· Despite One Failure, Growth Is Seen in Coachless Flights [NYT]
· Maxjet coverage [Jaunted]
· Eos coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Martin Third Av'n]