22.06.09
British Airways is considering selling or closing its OpenSkies subsidiary, just a year after it launched, it was reported yesterday. The airline, which last week asked its staff to work for up to a month for free, is considering winding up or selling the business, which runs flights from Paris and Amsterdam to the US, according to the Observer.
BA bought part of the business in 2008, when it paid £54m 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 at the time.
The new airline was named after the treaty between the EU and US that opened up the transatlantic aviation market. But its management team admitted last week that the businesses is running at a loss, and is about nine months behind its business plan - that already did not expected to make a profit until the third year of operation.
A BA spokesman told the newspaper: ‘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 in the airline's internal newspaper last week that Heathrow, cargo and most parts of the business were not profitable at the moment. He also suggested that OpenSkies might be closed if it did not meet its business plan.
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