It’s been a while since my last update, but I’m back in the swing of it. And the good news is I’ve got some great news to share. We’re marking our one-year anniversary!

As those of you who’ve been following the blog know, a lot of hard work went into making our first year such a success. We launched OpenSkies in record time, partnered with L’Avion to strengthen our offerings, and added the first all-business class Amsterdam-NYC route. When other airlines increased their costs and reduced their capacity, we increased our capacity and reduced costs. Over the year, our market share has grown and there are few empty seats. That means a healthy airline.

In the past twelve months, we’ve welcomed 92,000 passengers aboard our flights. That’s a solid feat for a new airline, even in the best of times. We’ve not only endured during a tough economy, we’ve continue to show improvements every month. Why? Because we truly are a unique airline whose time has come. All business class, all the time—and at an exceptional value.

It feels pretty good to look back on all we’ve accomplished this past year, but we’re not just sitting around the offices congratulating ourselves and slapping each other on the back. There’s an American baseball player who said it best. He said, “It’s okay to look back, just don’t stare.” We’re not staring at the past.  We focused on the future, making OpenSkies the best flying experience out there.

And what we’re focused on right now is bringing you some great deals to celebrate our anniversary. You’ll see that topnotch service and complete comfort don’t have to come at a lavish price.

If you’ve flown with us over the past year, drop me a note and let me know about your experience. If we’ve yet to welcome you aboard, I look forward to seeing you in year two.

Dale

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

We don’t want anything to compromise the integrity of this mission – not even a tough economy. We are in a fortunate position to have the strong support of an airline that has seen global economic dips and flips before: British Airways. But even though we fall under the umbrella of BA, we are still responsible for making careful and prudent decisions to ensure a superior experience.

We’ve been hard at work prioritizing our plans, putting first things first. And by “we”, I mean the OpenSkies team and the team at L’Avion. Both of us have been working together as one team expressing our mission in new and unique ways.

Here are a few of the specific items we’ve carefully considered and are acting on today:

- Reservations system integration: This is a top priority so OpenSkies customers will be able to book on L’Avion’s website and vice versa.
- Management decisions: Even though you may see two different logos, two different-looking aircraft, two different websites, we are making all decisions with one voice.
- French Operating Certificate: We fly 3 of every 4 flights out of Paris, so we are basing our operating certificate there. Plus, we have vast and numerous future route opportunities under a French AOC.

Here are a couple of planned items that will be put into action once the global economy steadies:
- Repainting the L’Avion aircraft with OpenSkies colors.
- Adding routes: We would like to stay focused on the routes we fly today. When economic conditions improve, we’ll dive back into expansion.

As we become one airline, we not only want to make sure the transition is smooth, we also want to make careful, prudent, sensible decisions moving forward, moving up the items we need now, and de-emphasizing the items that can wait.

Until then, you can expect what you always have: a delightful flight. If you have any questions, please ask.

Dale

The good news is OpenSkies.

When we launched last spring with the full support of British Airways, our mission was to bring something unique to the marketplace. OpenSkies is built on the idea of providing exceptional comfort and service at a great price. That’s exactly what we’ve been doing. We use our resources wisely. And by carefully expanding one route at a time, we’re able to stick to our principle of providing you value. That’s a big deal, especially now that travel budgets are tightening.

Travelers hesitant to pay the high price of flying international business class don’t have to give up flatbed seats or amenities just to save money. OpenSkies BIZ is a great option. And for around the same price as a full fare flight in economy on a competing airline, you can fly PREM+, where you’ll enjoy business class comfort for a lot less money.

There is one thing we can’t offer you that other airlines can—a middle seat. None of the 64 seats in our newly reconfigured planes—24 BIZ and 40 PREM+—are middle ones, which is great news for people like me who hate getting trapped between two other passengers.

So if you’re reevaluating your travel expenses, keep us in mind. Great value and exception service—OpenSkies is an airline whose time has come.

If you have an idea on how we can improve, or something you’d like to see us start doing, post your thoughts in our comment section. Your questions and suggestions are important to us.

Dale