BA looks for buyer for its troubled OpenSkies
E-mail: To contact most Travel Weekly staffers, type their first
initial and last name, followed by travelweekly.com.
Phone (headquarters): (201) 902-2000
Fax (headquarters): (201) 902-2041
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT/PUBLISHER:
BOB SULLIVAN
Phone: (201) 902-1956; Fax: (201) 902-1971
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER: BRUCE SHULMAN
Phone: (561) 799-1788; Fax: (561) 799-1731
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER, ULTIMATE HOTEL GUIDE
& WORLD OF LUXURY: JOANNE NELSON
Phone: (201) 902-1931; Fax: (201) 902-2041
REGIONAL ADVERTISING SALES MANAGER:
BARBARA FRIEDMAN
CT, MA, ME, MD, NJ, NYC, RI, VT
Phone: (201) 902-1934; Fax: (201) 902-1971
REGIONAL ADVERTISING SALES MANAGER:
SHARI WEINSTEIN
DC, LI, NYC, NY, OH, VA, WV
Phone: (201) 902-1936; Fax: (201) 902-1971
REGIONAL ADVERTISING SALES MANAGER:
HAZEL JANE LYONS
Caribbean, Bermuda
Phone: (201) 902-1992; Fax: (201) 902-2041
REGIONAL ADVERTISING SALES MANAGER:
RACHEL GUTIERREZ
CA, ID, M T, OR WY
Phone: (310) 536-0430; Fax: (310) 536-0450
REGIONAL ADVERTISING SALES MANAGER:
EDWARD CONNOLLY
AK, AZ, CA, NM, NV, UT, WA
Phone: (310) 954-2532; Fax: (310) 954-2504
REGIONAL ADVERTISING SALES MANAGER:
SETH CARPIEN
Mid-West, CO
Phone: (336) 714 3310 ; Fax: (336) 896-0555
REGIONAL ADVERTISING SALES MANAGER:
JAY NELSON
FL, GA, NC, SC
Phone: (727) 797-9758; Fax: (727) 796-1293
Cell: (727) 432-5283
REGIONAL ADVERTISING SALES MANAGER:
MANAGER, CLASSIFIED SALES:
EMMY MORALES
Phone: (201) 902-1951; Fax: (201) 902-7283
PROJECT COORDINATOR: Theresa Bednarczyk
HAWAII
DESTINATION MARKETING
DEBBIE JOSEPH
3555 Harding Ave, Suite 2C, Honolulu, HI 96816
Phone: (808) 739-2200; Fax: (808) 739-2201;
E-mail: Josephd001@hawaii.rr.com
CENTRAL AMERICA/ SOUTH AMERICA
TRM, TRAVEL REPRESENTATIONS
& MARKETING
LILLIAN MARTINEZ
327 Santander, Coral Gables, FL 33134
Phone: (305) 476-1130; Fax: (305) 854-4589;
E-mail: twtrm@earthlink.net
LOUISIANA/MISSISSIPPI
DESTINATION MARKETING CONSULTANTS, INC
STU BARASH
9535 Bearden Creek Lane, Humble, TX 77396
Phone: (281) 459-6605; Fax: (281) 436-0698
MEXICO
TOWMAR
JUAN MARTINEZ DUGAY
PALOMA MARTINEZ
Presa de la Angostura, 8, Col. Irrigacion
Mexico DF 11500
Phone: (011) 52-55 2122-3900;
Fax: (011) 52-55 5395-4985
E-mail: jmdugay@towmar.net,
pmartinez@towmar.net
CANADA
AMERICAN PUBLISHERS REPRESENTATIVES
FRANCOISE CHALIFOUR
41 Britain Street, Suite 303, Toronto, Ontario
M5A 1R7 Canada
Phone: (416) 363-1388, Ext. 237; Fax: (416)-363-2889;
E-mail: fchalifour@aprcanada.com
EUROPE/ASIA
MANAGING DIRECTOR,
INTERNATIONAL SALES:
PIERRE-DENIS BERNOUX
U.K., Belgium, Luxembourg, Eastern Mediterranean,
Ireland, Russia, Czech Republic, the Netherlands
Eastern Europe, France, Monaco, Switzerland
Phone: (201) 902-2026; Fax: (201) 902-2035;
E-mail: pbernoux@ntmllc.com
ITALY
MCDERMOT MEDIA SRL
DAVID MCDERMOT
Cell: (011) 39-335-6347683
Fax: (011) 39-06-9086741
E-mail: mcdermotmedia@tiscali.it
NORTHSTAR TRAVEL MEDIA LLC
CHAIRMAN AND
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER: THOMAS L. KEMP
CONTROLLER: LINDA DAVACHI
SENIOR DIRECTOR OF E-MEDIA: LESTER CRAFT
By Michael Fabey
OpenSkies, British Airways’ all-premium-seating subsidiary airline, is up for sale,
according to analysts and European news
reports, and the parent airline has hired
an investment bank to look for a buyer.
“We are reviewing all aspects of our business in the current economic environment,”
British Airways said in a statement. “We are
reviewing all aspects of our business but
will not speculate about specific details.”
The statement went on to say: “
OpenSkies is a small part of our business, and
its losses are not significant compared to
losses in other parts of the company.”
British Airways showed just how insignificant OpenSkies could be to the corporate financial picture late last year when
the parent sold surplus 757s to another
carrier instead of turning them over to its
subsidiary, as it had originally planned.
British Airways now needs more cash
and is currently raising $1 billion through
bond sales and other borrowing.
Carrier executives on both sides of the Atlantic agreed that transatlantic routes bore
the brunt of that decline as the recession
dampened demand in traffic between the
New York and European financial centers.
In January, OpenSkies Managing Director Dale Moss acknowledged that the
carrier was not attracting the number of
passengers or providing the yields it had
anticipated.
At that time, Moss said the carrier
would hold its fleet size at four 757s instead of expanding to seven as it had
planned to do by the end of 2009.
FUEL, ECONOMIC INSTABILITY TAKES ITS TOLL ON LUXE CARRIERS
ABILITY TAKE
Jet fuel at $2.07
per gallon
Jet fuel at
$1.94 per gallon
Dow:
10,407
Jet fuel: $1.85
per gallon
Dow:
12,475
Jet fuel: $1.69
per gallon
Dow:
12,503
End of an era
Meanwhile, analysts say that the future
of OpenSkies looks uncertain. Should
it fold, the airline’s demise would mark
the end of an era of dedicated, scheduled
transatlantic service solely for premium-and business-class passengers.
OpenSkies launched its first New York-to-Paris flight 13 months ago, shortly before the global recession started to cut into
premium air traffic demand.
By the time OpenSkies started operations, the transatlantic premium and business market had already claimed the likes
of Silverjet, Eos and Maxjet. All fell victim
to soaring fuel prices and corporate cash
shortages.
In July 2008, OpenSkies bought and integrated French carrier L’Avion, its only
true remaining competitor in the all-pre-mium market.
But that same month, IATA reported,
worldwide premium traffic shrank 5%.
Premium traffic counts continued to
plummet through the rest of 2008 and
into 2009.
Jet fuel: $2.71
per gallon
Dow:
13,177
Jet fuel: $2.65
per gallon
Dow:
13,550
Jet fuel: $3.50
per gallon
Dow:
12,892
Jet fuel: $3.97
per gallon
Dow:
12,480
Jet fuel: $3.82
per gallon
Dow:
12,063
Jet fuel: $4.35
per gallon
Dow:
11,216
Jet fuel: $1.46
per gallon
Jet fuel: $1.62
per gallon
Dow:
8,743.9
Oct. 18 2005 Jan. 2009
Dow closes
at 10,285
Eos starts operations with New York-London
Stansted flight.
Nov. 1
2005
MaxJet inaugural flight, New York-London.
L’Avion launches first flight, from Paris to
Newark. IATA reports a 5% increase in premium passenger traffic for the month.
Jan. 3
2007
Jan. 25
2007
Silverjet starts first flight between London
Luton and Newark.
Silverjet starts service between London Luton
and Dubai.
Nov. 18
2007
Dec. 24
2007
Maxjet suspends all flight operations, citing
rising fuel costs, increased crew salaries and
other unforeseen costs.
April
26-27
2008
Eos ceases operations, saying it will file for
bankruptcy. IATA reports growth of about 4%
for premium passenger traffic for the month.
Silverjet ceases operations and suspends
all flights when it is unable to secure more
financing.
May 23
2008
British Airways subsidiary OpenSkies launches its first flight from New York to London.
June 19
2008
British Airways agrees to buy L’Avion and
integrate it with OpenSkies. Premium traffic
drops about 5% for the month.
July 2
2008
Dow: 8,375
(end of month)
OpenSkies nixes expansion plans. Premium
traffic drops about 17% for the month.
Premium traffic drops 23.6% in May, the last
month data are available. British Airways
hires investment bank to help sell OpenSkies.
July 17
2009
Agent elected to ASTA board was sent United memo
By Nadine Godwin
ASTA members, in nationwide polling,
elected five agents to the board of directors and, as it turns out, one winner hails
from one of the 28 agencies United Airlines
singled out to be cut off from the carrier’s
credit card merchant accounts.
The agent is Nina Meyer, director of sales
and marketing at Express Travel in Miami,
and she joins the board ready to bring more
agents into the fray, she said.
The other four winning candidates were
Patrick Byrne, MPB Travel, Buffalo, N. Y.;
Dan Lanser, A Plus Travel Adventures,
Uniontown, Ohio; Irene Ross, Ross Travel
Consultants, Boston; and Hope Wallace,
ADA Travel, Casa Grande, Ariz.
Separately, ASTA reported that agent Alan
Fiermonte was disqualified as a candidate
one day before voting concluded on July 23.
In August, the incumbent board will elect
national officers, to serve one-year terms. The
national officers will be selected from the five
directors named above and four directors
entering the second year of their terms: Lila
Ford, Chris Russo, Kari Thomas and Carol
Wagner. Russo is the current president.
The Chapter Presidents Council recently
selected the following chapter presidents to
sit on the board, as well: John Lovell (Great
Lakes chapter and council chair), Susan Aft
(Southeast chapter) and Karl Rosen (
Orange County, Calif., chapter).
Candidate disqualified
Fiermonte, from Down2earth Adventures
in Conshohocken, Pa., was disqualified as
a candidate for director, ending a dust-up
about the use of certain ASTA resources.
ASTA said each candidate for office may
request a list of voting members for campaign purposes, but the eight candidates for
this summer’s election were inadvertently
provided with the wrong list, one that included confidential information.
The Society asked them to return that list
but Fiermonte declined, arguing, among
other things, that the list in his possession
had been identified as a list of voting members. ASTA reported the other candidates
exchanged the list for the correct version
but that Fiermonte “used information from
the list, other than the mailing data, as part
of his campaign platform.”
At its hearing, ASTA’s election committee concluded that the list he retained constituted an ASTA resource of the type that
candidates are not permitted to use for their
campaigns.
