Washington D.C. – Paris, off to a great start!

Date: May 25th, 2010
Author: Dale Moss

May 3rd marked a bit of aviation history as we connected Paris Orly (ORY) and Washington Dulles (IAD) airports for the first time. I personally was on the flight along with customers and journalists. We all had a terrific experience. Some of us had dinner that night in Washington D.C. at Michel Richard’s Central restaurant. It was a nice way to cap a special day. The next morning I hosted a press conference in Alexandria, Virginia. The journalists were all impressed with not only the uniqueness of business travel on OpenSkies but how spectacular the city of Washington D.C. was. No question about it, I think everyone had a most enjoyable journey.

Things are progressing nicely with our new Washington D.C. route. With the help of our advertising and word of mouth picking up every week, so are the loads. It takes a little while to build up our business class brand in a new city but we are encouraged as to where we are relative to our plan, which reflects bookings at +15%. Fingers crossed! I was on a flight this past week and one of our customers reached out to me to say, “I’m spoiled now, this is the only way to fly”. That sure does make me happy to hear.

Operationally we were challenged by the untimely resurrection of the ash cloud making for a few tough days. We are very grateful to our customers who were patient and understanding during this time of disruption. We recovered quickly and all has been well since. But running an airline has always had its operational challenge, it’s how we respond that customers will hold judgment.

We learned a lot and especially how important communication to our customers is. We have marked it as a lesson and have already put in place new procedures to ensure our communication is more timely and informative. So keep your comments coming!

Best,

Dale