BA to sell / close OpenSkies?
22.06.09
British Airways is considering selling or closing its OpenSkies subsidiary only a year after it launched, it was reported yesterday. The airline, which last week asked its staff to consider working for up to a month free, is considering winding up or selling the business, which runs flights from Paris and Amsterdam to the US, according to the Observer newspaper.
BA bought part of the business in 2008, when it paid £54 million for French airline L'Avion. OpenSkies had already launched its own flights, as part of plans to offer direct flights between France and the US, and was operating a code share with the French all business airline.
The new airline was named after the treaty between the EU and US that opened up the transatlantic aviation market and made it possible to launch the flights last summer. But its management team admitted last week that the businesses is currently running at a loss, and is about 9 months behind a business plan that already did not expected to make a profit until the third year of its operation.
A BA spokesman said: ‘We are reviewing all aspects of our business in the current economic environment. OpenSkies is a small part of our business and its losses are not significant compared to losses in other parts of the company.’ Willie Walsh, BA CEO, told staff last week that Heathrow, cargo and most parts of the business were not profitable at the moment.
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