Davies & Baron launches BA’s OpenSkies

British Airways subsidiary airline OpenSkies launches today, with a livery created by Davies & Baron.

Davies & Baron, which worked closely with BA on Terminal 5 lounges, has worked up the logo, identity, livery, look and feel of interiors and general collateral, according to a spokesman.

OpenSkies, according to BA, takes advantage of the EU-US Open Skies aviation agreement that enables carriers to fly between any destinations in the Europe and the US.

The service will operate daily between Paris and New York on Boeing 757s, which have a capacity of 82.

According to BA chief executive Willie Walsh, OpenSkies will be a test-bed for new customer services and onboard products that BA hopes to integrate into its own fleet.

Despite the current economic climate, Walsh is optimistic about the prospects for OpenSkies, seeing BA as an established support for the nascent airline.

OpenSkies customers will have a choice of three cabins on board the aircraft: Biz, the business class cabin, has 24 seats that convert into fully flat beds; Prem Plus, which offers 28 reclining leather seats with a 132cm seat pitch; and economy class with seating for 30.

A second Boeing 757 is scheduled to join OpenSkies later this year from British Airways’ fleet, with a total of six aircraft planned by the end of 2009.

BA is considering other European destinations for OpenSkies, including Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt and Milan.

New York ad agency Taxi was appointed in April this year to create the launch campaign.

Taxi created the look and feel of the ads, chose the font and designed the graphics for the print campaign.