Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I enjoy reading all your comments. I’ve decided to make answering your questions a regular feature on the blog, so if you haven’t gotten around to leaving a comment, now’s the time.

Keith and Henry start us off with a couple great questions that touch on the same topic. “How is OpenSkies coping with the global downturn in air travel?” Keith asks.  “Are you buoyant and will my bookings for the future be a safe investment?”

You’re right, Keith. Economic turbulence has slowed the industry. But let me assure you that your booking made on OpenSkies is a safe investment, and dare I say the best investment at this time. As you may know, we have the full backing and support of one of the world’s finest airlines, British Airways. With BA behind us, we are in a great position for success even in tough economic times. And I want to make a point that PREM+ is, in my opinion, the best value flying, with absolutely no compromise on comfort. Of course you’d expect me to say that.  But it’s also is the opinion of the critics. I like how Joe Brancatelli of Portfolio.com puts it.   PREM+, he says, is an “entirely new class of international airline service.” Value and business class comfort—now those are two terms not often associated with each other!

In the post on our in flight entertainment systems, Lee commented on how great the Archos 705 portable media player is (I agree!). He asks, “How often is your AVOD [entertainment system] updated?”

We update half of our movies every month and rotate in new TV shows every other month. In January, we have some great films like RocknRolla and the thriller Eagle Eye.  And being international, we offer international entertainment, next month features movies like the French drama Le Premier jour du reste de ta vie and the Dutch drama Het Zusje van Katia. Whenever possible, we’ll have French and Dutch soundtracks and subtitles on the movies and TV shows.

A couple of you had questions about whether we were going to extend out routes to new cities.  Hadassah asks, “How big does the vision go for other US cities to be included, namely where I’m at in Los Angeles?” Isadora had a similar question, “When are you flying from Stockholm (Sweden)?”

We put a lot of thought into our routes by considering the business opportunity and the aircraft flying range. As of right now, neither L.A. nor Stockholm are in our plans. Future expansion opportunities are always being considered and as soon as I have any news about upcoming routes I’ll be sure to let you know right here.

Stephen also had a question about routes. He says, “Why don’t you add [London] STANSTED as your next OpenSkies base.”

Stansted may be a unique opportunity, though we have no plans to operate out of the UK.  Our parent company, British Airways, has those flights covered. I’ll definitely pass on the suggestion to them.

And we had a question from Orlan asking about in flight reading. He asks, “Are you planning any inflight magazines specific to OpenSkies?”

We’ve decided not to have an in flight magazine. But we do offer local and international newspapers and publications that you can pick up as you board the plane. Depending on your route, you’ll find Dutch titles like Telegraph or Elsevier, French titles such as Le Figaro or Paris Match, or English titles like The Wall Street Journal or Golf Digest.

That’s all for now. I check the blog a lot to read the new comments. Keep leaving them. I promise to do my best to answer them.  And let me know what you think about our airline, our routes, our blog— anything, really.

Here’s to a great 2009, Happy New Year!

Dale

October 15, 1:20pm at Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam marked a tremendous day for us—our first commercial take off from the Netherlands. The flight was an unmitigated success, but you’d expect to hear that coming from me.

For good measure, we invited a few journalists and bloggers aboard our first NYC-AMS flight to give us a good, hard look. And they weren’t your ordinary pressmen, these guys are most-seasoned of travelers—tough, no-nonsense critics that aren’t easily impressed. Those are the kinds of folks we wanted kicking the tires.

Will Allen from Raleigh, North Carolina writes, “I think OpenSkies has broken the code on what international business class travelers want and need between the USA and Europe, and they offer it at a price that will satisfy even the strictest and stingiest corporate travel departments.”

And Joe Brancatelli writes, “The creature comforts of the OpenSkies PREM+ cabin are the latest and best-articulated developments in the nearly 20-year evolution of a fourth and entirely new class of international airline service.”

We’ve been hard at work putting together the best value flying. The seats, the meals, the entertainment system, the service and the small details in between—are all adding up to much larger experience.

But it’s not all strawberry shortcake. David Rowell enjoyed his flight and had some good things to say about the PREM+ cabin: “A business class experience for much less than a business class price.” He did note a few points about the service that we’ll focus our energies on improving. We are certainly grateful for David and critics like him for pointing out the small details that may get lost or forgotten. That’s an important way we’ll continue to get better.

Service, comfort, and legroom at a great price—if you can think of a better value, let me know. And the good news is that we’re always improving. So if you have something to say about our airline, service, seats, pillows, any detail will do—please say it! This airline was made for you. Our job is to keep you loving it.

Dale

I like to think that OpenSkies is full of creative problem solvers. And when circumstances are beyond our control, that’s when we truly shine. You may be asking,  how does an airline with only one aircraft handle disruption? It’s a good question, and one we knew we’d have to support. As part of the British Airways family, we have the resources and reach to handle most any situation on the spot.

For example, when those summer thunderstorms diverted our Paris-New York flight to Boston, the storms lingered over JFK long enough that the flight crew had to be relieved of duty by law. The flight was canceled, and that cancellation caused a domino effect of other cancellations. But that doesn’t mean our travelers were left stranded.

We were able to connect directly with our British Airways teams in Boston, London and Paris to provide all the assistance to our travelers to ensure they arrived at their destination safely, and as quickly as possible.

I like to think of us as a little airline with a lot of support, and that we can call on our BA colleagues when we need to. But that doesn’t happen very often. Our operational record is quite good. If a flight arrives within 15 minutes of the scheduled time it’s within the industry standard. Since launch, we’ve been hitting this mark over 92% of the time. Even better, over 80% of our flights have arrived within 3 minutes.

You’ve heard me say that we’re dedicated to a great flying experience, but we’re also dedicated a reliable one.

Dale

As with everything we do, we’ve put a lot of thought into our inflight entertainment system. We’re using the Archos 705 portable media player, which we call AVOD (yes, another acronym! This one stands for audio/video on demand). I really think the system we’re using is the best out there. Why? Take for instance the player’s holder. On some airlines you have to prop the device on your meal tray; ours is designed to stay out of your way, which means you can enjoy a meal while watching a movie, a sitcom, a sporting event—there’s too much to list!

Something I often find irritating with state-of-the-art technology is that it gets too fancy for its own good. That’s not the case with our AVOD. We made sure it’s straightforward and easy-to-use. Grant Martin had a chance to try it out on a recent flight and wrote about it on Gadling.com. “Refreshingly responsive,” he called it.

All of this doesn’t mean much if you don’t have a big selection of programs to choose from. We do. We offer 20 newly released movies—even international titles like Bluff, or Heure d’été. He have 42 TV shows (everything from Ugly Betty to Mad Men), 66 musical artists with 777 titles, and 10 interactive games. That’s a lot—some 50 hours of audio and video. And the Seinnheiser headsets—with noise-canceling technology—ensure you hear what you’re listening to, not the sounds around you. If you’ve had the chance to experience our AVOD, let us know your thoughts on it.

Dale

“All of us were blown away by the value of the Prem+ product. Seriously, it is a steal for what you get.” Says Jared Blank of the Online Travel Review.

“The seat was much wider, at least around the shoulders, which made it easy to get comfortable. I also found the leather to be non-sticky and easy to find a comfortable position in, which is a big plus… Overall I can’t find one thing to fault the seats for,” says Ben A.K.A. “Lucky” from One Mile at A Time.

We thought we were onto something with PREM+, but we didn’t anticipate this kind of reaction! From the very start, we built this airline with a spirit of creativity and passion for listening to our customers. Really listening.

Your voices have been heard. Our PREM+ cabin is expanding from 28 seats to 40 seats on both our Paris/NYC route (as of October 1) and Amsterdam/NYC route (October 15 is our first flight). That means no more than 64 passengers on the entire plane.

But really, what does that mean? I know when I’m on a 7-hour flight, I don’t like to be cramped in claustrophobic quarters. I don’t like to be shifting and fidgeting to relax. When we designed our cabins, we were striving for living-room comfort—not only in our chairs, but also throughout our entire cabin. That includes the food, service, entertainment, privacy, everything. It’s not perfect yet but—with your help—we’re getting closer.

And affordability is also an issue nowadays when many budgets don’t allow for full-price business class travel. PREM+ is the perfect alternative. It gives you a more affordable business class experience, so you arrive refreshed and ready for the day with money to spare. Check out our latest PREM+ offers for both the Amsterdam/NYC and Paris/NYC routes.

The optimum flying experience, that’s what we’re going for. We have a lot of work to do, but at least we’re flying in the right direction.

Dale

It’s been said that our cabins and seats rival—if not surpass—the best in the industry. The quality and value of PREM+ has been blogged about and written about in the New York Times. Many people have commented on the fantastic food, the plush seats, and the roominess of the cabin.

But all this means little if the service isn’t equally stellar. Our crew makes the difference. I can’t say that enough. Without good service, a seat isn’t as comfortable, a meal isn’t as memorable, and a flight becomes just another flight.

Not only is our crew knowledgeable and attentive, but they’re passionate about creating the best experience possible. Have you heard of a cabin crew being trained by expert chefs so they can ensure your meal is properly served? Ours have done just that. And being that our meal service is a la carte, you can get your meal the way you want it—and you get it served on china with a linen tablecloth!

Another aspect that differentiates them is their teamwork. From start to finish, the crew works together to ensure the comfort, safety, and wellbeing of everyone on board. You’ll never experience a “That’s not my job” attitude.

A great example of their unique style of service and dedication in action came to me from our Cabin Services Manager. She told me she’d received many suggestions from the crew themselves on how to improve the overall OpenSkies experience. She stated that “many of the suggestions involved much more work for the crew. It really demonstrated to me just how customer-focused the crew is. They came up with the ideas themselves—ideas that will have a big impact on their workload!”

As you can see, our crew is tireless in its pursuit to provide you with the best possible experience. They bring you personalised service and attention like no other airline—and bring it to you every time you fly.

Let me know about some of the OpenSkies inflight experiences that made an impression on you. I’d love to hear them.

Dale

Our site is up, reservations are being booked and our first flight is just weeks away. So what do you think is on my mind right now? Food! Specifically, beef tenderloin with fresh vegetables, buttered spinach and parmesan tuiles. Chicken and artichoke pâté with a beetroot and fig salsa. Tea and crisp, delicious macaroons.

Does that sound like airplane food to you?

I’ve just been scanning our menu and I feel like I’m right back at the restaurant I mentioned in an earlier post. It’s truly inspiring to see all the creativity going into our food service. But beyond the imaginative chef-work, we are working hard to ensure that whatever we serve is healthy for you, and the environment.

* We are committed to using locally available, seasonal ingredients.
* We will serve fair trade coffee and chocolates on board.
* We are determined to use eco-friendly packaging to reduce waste.

Taking advantage of all the great seasonal produce, our menu will change throughout the year. So if you’re a frequent flier you’ll enjoy a nice variety of good, healthy meals. Hopefully you’ll agree that an OpenSkies experience is more than just getting from point A to point B.

All this talk of our meals has made me hungry. Is it dinnertime yet?

Dale

Kind of like what we are doing here. Every OpenSkies team member is demonstrating extraordinary commitment and spirit to get our airline off the ground, particularly when it comes to fulfilling regulatory requirements. We’re currently conducting training flights to ensure that our pilots and operating procedures meet the highest standards. In fact take a look at this photo, courtesy of a local planespotter, the first of our plane flying!

We also have our proving flights, which is just one of the steps—an important one!—in obtaining approval to fly and satisfying all of the European Aviation Safety Authority requirements. A Flight Operations Inspector from the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) observes the proving flight to verify that we’re following the procedures laid out in the operations manuals we submitted. If you just look at the mountain of manuals our guys produced you would stand back and say “holy cow!”

It may be a lot of preparation, but this is serious stuff and we cannot run before we walk, so it’s a step at a time to ensure your 6+ hour event with us is a success.

Dale

PS: Once everything’s approved and ready to go, I’ll be able to answers questions like Stephen’s about when our first official flight takes off and Jake’s about when flights can be booked.