Jaunted

Unshakable Faith Travel: British Airways Buys L'Avion

7/02/2008 at 1:35 PM
Tags: All Business Class Carriers, OpenSkies, L'Avion, British Airways, Open Skies, JFK, ORY, EWR (all tags)

L'Avion, the last independent transatlantic all business class carrier, just got bought up by British Airways. The backer of the new premium airline OpenSkies directly competed with L'Avion for Paris to New York passengers--until today.

The deal cost BA €68 million ($108 million), though L'Avion had €33 million in cash in the bank. More importantly than eliminating the competition and getting two 757s, OpenSkies will also get L'Avion's landing slots at ORY.

We have two big questions. First, where will the newly-expanded OpenSkies fly? L'Avion served Newark, while the BA offshoot lands at JFK. A company press release mentions "up to three daily flights between Paris Orly and the New York area." The second question: Will OpenSkies make a dime off this deal?

Related Stories:
· British Airways Buys L'Avion to Expand OpenSkies [Bloomberg UK]
· All Business Class Carriers coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Mohsan]