Open Skies is the new name for BA's offshoot.

British Airways is creating subsidiary airline 'OpenSkies' to fly daily between New York and either Brussels or Paris from June. It is the first time BA has flown to the US from European airports outside the UK, and shows the airline taking advantage of the Open Skies agreement which opens up the transatlantic market from March.

A Boeing 757 will be used to service the first of these European destinations, and a second will be added later in the year to operate the other. Whether New York JFK or Newark is used has not yet been decided. BA plans to move six of its 757 fleet to the new operation by the end of 2009, and says it will consider routes to other major European hubs such as Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Madrid and Milan. The narrow body aircraft will seat 82 passengers in three cabins. The cabins are business (24 seats reclining to 6"/15cm flat-beds); premium economy or World Traveller Plus (28 seats with a 52" pitch); and economy (30 seats with a 31" pitch).

BA's initiative - until now known as Project Lauren - was never going to be a business class-only service but of note is the very small economy cabin. This is not planned to be a popular route for fare-strapped passengers.