Flight Log: BA To Meld Newly Acquired L'Avion With OpenSkies Subsidiary

British Airways' €68 million deal to purchase L'Avion sets the stage to fold the New York-Paris all-business class airline into its newly launched OpenSkies subsidiary by early next year. OpenSkies managing director Dale Moss said the first steps of integration are "looking for commercial synergies" and "putting the two companies together," after which the carriers plan to integrate operations, which they expect may take up to eight months. "We plan to be a singular entity early next year," Moss said. The combined airline, already operating under a codeshare agreement, will run three dailies between the New York area and Paris on Boeing 757 aircraft—folding L'Avion's two all-business-class dailies between Paris Orly and Newark into OpenSkies' three-class daily service between Orly and JFK. He said the carriers will operate under the OpenSkies brand, but still are determining aircraft cabin details.

DOT Denies Blanket Int'l Air Service Default
The U.S. Department of Transportation this month denied the largest U.S. carriers a blanket dormancy waiver request, which would have allowed them to default on international service obligations without losing flying rights. The high cost of fuel has spurred some airlines to request withdrawals of long-haul services from a few once-coveted routes, including those to China and Russia. DOT has approved such requests on a one-off basis, including United Airlines' and US Airways' separate requests to postpone service to China, and a United request to push back the start date of U.S.-Russia service. DOT said it would continue to maintain its policy of "considering dormancy waiver requests on an individual basis" instead of granting carte blanche for airlines to pull service.

Midwest Advances New GDS Merchandizing Options
Midwest Airlines is progressing in its plan to revamp its Boeing 717s with a new configuration and sell two versions of coach class tickets through the Sabre global distribution system. Midwest plans for 40 Signature seats—which are wider and have more legroom than the 59 Saver seats in the same cabin—on those planes, and has been engaged with Sabre to upsell customers who elect to pay more for a Signature seat at the time of booking. Midwest vice president of sales and distribution Randy Smith said the carrier is testing new distribution functionality with Sabre, and by the end of October plans to upgrade the 717 fleet and begin selling the new seat options through the GDS. "We're hosted in Sabre and we wanted this to work in our Web site and call center," Smith said. "Sabre is the largest producer of PNRs for us. That was the first place to start. There's only so much that we can do simultaneously because it's a little different with Worldspan and Galileo and Apollo and Amadeus." He said the carrier is working with those distribution providers, as well as online agencies and corporate booking tools, to advance its new distribution strategy.