British Airways announced a new subsidiary airline called OpenSkies that will operate flights between New York and Continental Europe utilizing 3-class Boeing 757s. The aircraft will be configured with Business, Premium Economy, and Economy seats.
This is somewhat of a surprise since BA’s competition across the Atlantic is fierce, especially with Business Class only carriers. Their idea is novel though, as the plane configuration, with a premium economy section, will attract more customers wanting a comfortable ride to Europe.
OpenSkies has not announced which New York area airport it will fly out of, but my guess would be that they actually split traffic between JFK and EWR to keep some landing slots open for the widebody fleet.
Eventually we will have to see one of these airlines going across the Atlantic in 757s cut service due to lack of demand. The air will be clogged with flights from multiple U.S. and international carriers going between mainland Europe and cities around the United States and there won’t be anyone on some of them. The one upside is the fact that ticket prices should drop significantly when the Open Skies agreement is finally observed.