New Year, new opportunities

Date: February 2nd, 2009
Author: Dale Moss

It’s hard to believe we’re well into 2009.

2008 was a tough year. The economic turbulence shook everyone and affected every industry. But there were some bright spots. We launched OpenSkies, taking flight last June with our first route, NY-Paris. We introduced of our second route, NY-Amsterdam, in October, and made the big step toward expanding the OpenSkies experience by purchasing the French airline L’Avion.

Tough times don’t mean people stop traveling. But what it does mean, though, is that everyone is more conscious about the cost, especially business travelers who depend on travel to close the deal. Value is vital. And that’s exactly what we offer. We have the right product to fit the times. No other airline provides business class service and comfort to Amsterdam and Paris at a price comparable to a full fare economy flight. And being backed by British Airways, you can see why we’re a solid economical choice in today’s market.

But we’re not just resting on our laurels. We have quite a lot on deck for 2009. Our continued integration with L’Avion is a big project. Already, we’ve implemented a code-share so you can book flights on either our website or L’Avion’s (And you earn BA Executive Club miles when you fly on L’Avion.)

One of the first decisions we made as part of integrating L’Avion was to shift our British Airline Operating Certificate to a French one—which means our whole OpenSkies base of operations and office (myself included!) are moving to Paris. We’ve already started to tackle the ton of mandatory paperwork for the switch and are covering off on things like merging L’Avion and our operating manuals so they meet regulations. It’s definitely a big move, but it’s a move that will open up new opportunities and new routes.

What else is happening? We’ll be painting all the planes, updating L’Avion’s interiors to provide the BIZ (business bed) and PREM+ (business seat) experience we stake our name on, and choosing new uniforms. We’ll also be taking the best functionalities of the websites and combining them into one. And as always, serving fantastic and inventive meals will still top our priority list.

Keep checking back in. I’ll be posting on our move to Paris, how the integration is going, even on the new uniforms, which I’d love to hear your thoughts on.

Here’s to the New Year!

Dale