OpenSkies, the
British Airways subsidiary
that offers premium airline services between the USA and continental
Europe, is to become an affiliate member of oneworld®, the leading
quality global airline alliance, with effect from 1 December 2012.
OpenSkies
currently links Paris with the New York metro area with two daily
round trips between Paris Orly and Newark. From
March, frequencies will
rise to three daily round trips with the addition of one daily round
trip between Paris Orly and New York JFK. It is the only airline
offering flights to and from the USA at Paris Orly's West Terminal -
the closest to the city centre and with the widest choice of
connections within France.
All
OpenSkies services are operated by Boeing 757s in a special
three-class configuration, with services being brought more into line
with those offered on British
Airways' own mainline flights:
•
Biz
Bed cabin features 20 seats that convert to fully-flat beds, similar
to British
Airways' Club World (business class).
•
Prem
Plus is an upmarket premium economy, with 28 leather seats in a roomy
2:2 configuration, reclining 130o.
•
Eco
is an economy class offering comfort and personalised service, with
66 seats in a 3:3 configuration.
For
in-flight entertainment, all passengers are offered a personal iPad
with more than 70 hours of movies, TV shows and games.
Its
flight attendants wear the usual British Airways uniform,
and its aircraft are painted in a livery similar to the
regularBritish Airways design, but the OpenSkies logo along
their fuselages.
Its
flights now all operate using the BA flight code and its frequent
flyer programme is British Airways Executive
Club.
At
New York JFK and Newark, Biz Bed and Prem Plus passengers are able to
use British Airways' lounges. At Paris Orly, they are offered
access to Iberia's VIP lounge.
As
a oneworld affiliate member, from 1 December it will offer the
alliance's full range of services and benefits - including, for
members of any oneworld member airlines' frequent
flyer programme, the ability to earn
mileage rewards and tier status points and redeem
mileage rewards on all OpenSkies flights, and, for top tier
cardholders, lounge access when flying OpenSkies.
At
the same time, its flights will be featured in all oneworld fares and
passengers holding oneworld Emerald and Sapphire status in any
oneworld airline's loyalty programme will also be able to use these
facilities when flying on OpenSkies from 1 December, no matter in
which cabin they are flying.
OpenSkies
Managing Director Patrick Malval said: "With OpenSkies being
brought closer to mainstream British Airways, we are delighted
now to be able to offer our customers the full range of oneworld
services and benefits and to bring our flights into the network of
the world's leading quality airline alliance."
OpenSkies
was launched by oneworld founder member British Airways in
2008 and has carried half a million customers since then. It operates
a fleet of three Boeing 757-200s.
Besides
its 11 full member airlines, oneworld also includes some 30 affiliate
members. These are generally regional airlines with strong links with
oneworld full member airlines.
British
Airways has three established oneworld affiliate members - BA
CityFlyer, which operates out of London City airport, and two
airlines which operate as British Airways franchisees, in
Denmark's SUN-AIR and South Africa's Comair.
Other
oneworld affiliate members include:
•
airberlin's
Austria-based affiliate NIKI.
• American
Airlines'
regional affiliates American Eagle (including flights operated as
American Eagle by Executive Airlines, ExpressJet and SkyWest) and
American-Connection (operated by Chautauqua Airlines).
•
Cathay
Pacific's Dragonair
•
Finnair's
Flybe Finland (on routes it operates on behalf of Finnair).
•
Iberia
Regional Air Nostrum and Iberia Express.
•
JAL
Express, J-AIR and Japan Transocean Air.
•
LAN
Argentina, LAN Ecuador and LAN Peru.
•
QantasLink
and its operators Airlink (National Jet Systems), Eastern Australian
Airlines, Sunstate Airlines and Jetconnect.
•
S7's
Globus.