It is such a pity that OpenSkies is being shut down. I thought they were looking at adding more 767s or even some Dreamliners to the OpenSkies fleet. I flew ORY-EWR in Premium Plus or whatever they call their premium economy (it was actually domestic first kind of seats, only a bit better, in a 2-2 layout in the 752) back in 2011 and while it was indeed quite pricey (I booked late and it was a one-way), I found the hard and the soft products to be awesome.

Aisak wrote:

zkojq wrote:

So Level flights operate with Iberia crews (same labour costs), Iberia purchased aircraft (same finance costs) but with Level sold/marketed tickets (much lower yield).

How can you be so sure about that statement? Level flights do operate with Iberia crews but i'm curious to know where have you seen those costs in their financial reports.
A crew member based in BCN does not have to **cost** the same than a crew member based in MAD.

Since when did Iberia have a long haul crew base at BCN?

zkojq wrote:

Since when did Iberia have a long haul crew base at BCN?

Since Iberia was chosen to operate Level flights

I saw a few articles mentioning LEVEL & cargo. I'm assuming they will take over not only the route but the cargo contract at EWR as well.

https://beta.iagcargo.com/en/page/press/openskies_en

EddieDude wrote:

It is such a pity that OpenSkies is being shut down. I thought they were looking at adding more 767s or even some Dreamliners to the OpenSkies fleet. I flew ORY-EWR in Premium Plus or whatever they call their premium economy (it was actually domestic first kind of seats, only a bit better, in a 2-2 layout in the 752) back in 2011 and while it was indeed quite pricey (I booked late and it was a one-way), I found the hard and the soft products to be awesome.

The OpenSkies fleet is old as heck though...except for the owned 757, by the time LEVEL takes over, one will have a 757 and 767 that are each 28 years old, and another 757 that is 27 years old. The 757s probably have value as freighters, but I expect the 767 to be retired and parted out. This is where an A321LR could work to and from JFK...perhaps in a W pattern, SNN-JFK-ORY-JFK-SNN. Now, as for the slots at EWR since ORY service would reduce from 7 to 4 weekly...BCN 3x weekly?

aemoreira1981 wrote:

EddieDude wrote:

It is such a pity that OpenSkies is being shut down. I thought they were looking at adding more 767s or even some Dreamliners to the OpenSkies fleet. I flew ORY-EWR in Premium Plus or whatever they call their premium economy (it was actually domestic first kind of seats, only a bit better, in a 2-2 layout in the 752) back in 2011 and while it was indeed quite pricey (I booked late and it was a one-way), I found the hard and the soft products to be awesome.

The OpenSkies fleet is old as heck though...except for the owned 757, by the time LEVEL takes over, one will have a 757 and 767 that are each 28 years old, and another 757 that is 27 years old. The 757s probably have value as freighters, but I expect the 767 to be retired and parted out. This is where an A321LR could work to and from JFK...perhaps in a W pattern, SNN-JFK-ORY-JFK-SNN. Now, as for the slots at EWR since ORY service would reduce from 7 to 4 weekly...BCN 3x weekly?

I'm betting you are on the money. BCN-EWR 3x weekly & my guess here is the other will be BCN-FLL 2x weekly are the next announced routes.

aemoreira1981 wrote:

EddieDude wrote:

It is such a pity that OpenSkies is being shut down. I thought they were looking at adding more 767s or even some Dreamliners to the OpenSkies fleet. I flew ORY-EWR in Premium Plus or whatever they call their premium economy (it was actually domestic first kind of seats, only a bit better, in a 2-2 layout in the 752) back in 2011 and while it was indeed quite pricey (I booked late and it was a one-way), I found the hard and the soft products to be awesome.

The OpenSkies fleet is old as heck though...except for the owned 757, by the time LEVEL takes over, one will have a 757 and 767 that are each 28 years old, and another 757 that is 27 years old. The 757s probably have value as freighters, but I expect the 767 to be retired and parted out. This is where an A321LR could work to and from JFK...perhaps in a W pattern, SNN-JFK-ORY-JFK-SNN. Now, as for the slots at EWR since ORY service would reduce from 7 to 4 weekly...BCN 3x weekly?

The fact that Open Skies is shut down at ORY makes "La Compagnie" and their Business Class Only 757s (and in the near future 321neo) the only Biz only operator acft between Paris and New York.

jerseyewr777 wrote:

I saw a few articles mentioning LEVEL & cargo. I'm assuming they will take over not only the route but the cargo contract at EWR as well.

https://beta.iagcargo.com/en/page/press/openskies_en

An interesting question. I don't know the answer.

I assume that with new A330-200s, LEVEL will have spare weight carrying capacity on all but their longest routes, but spare volume capacity? I also assume that passenger baggage is in containers not bulk loaded? Given these are good, then it is about economics and widening the reach of IAG Cargo? The issues are yield versus cost. The answers may be different on each route, and for high and low frequencies.

At least Open Skies with know the economics of their year-old cargo operation with a wide body. LEVEL will know their spare hold capacity on Barcelona routes. Work in progress?

aemoreira1981 wrote:

Now, as for the slots at EWR since ORY service would reduce from 7 to 4 weekly...BCN 3x weekly?

But EWR is no longer slot controlled,surely? Now finding a gate, that's another matter.

A380MSN004 wrote:

The fact that Open Skies is shut down at ORY makes "La Compagnie" and their Business Class Only 757s (and in the near future 321neo) the only Biz only operator acft between Paris and New York.

Maybe but they are still bleeding money and will likely never earn some before the shareholders finally decide to pull the plug.

Found the following statement on the Flylevel website:

“LEVEL is an IAG trademark. Flights sold under the LEVEL name are operated by Iberia and OpenSkies and are subject to their conditions of carriage.”

It kinda confirms that ORY flights will be operated under Open Skies AOC