Eos, the airline that offered only business class flights has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The carrier that operated between London and New York was established on the back of increasing demand for business class travel across the pond. However with increasing operating costs, namely fuel prices, and the impact of the credit crunch it had become increasingly difficult to operate profitably. Taking on Virgin Atlantic and British Airways was never going to be easy and other premium carriers such as Silverjet will hope they do no go the same way.

British Airways has announced that it will delay moving its long haul flights to Terminal 5 until 5th June, over one month later than the original date of 30th April. The move comes after the opening debacle last month that saw hundreds of flights cancelled and thousands of bags lost. (more…)

British Airways is to launch a business class only service from London City airport to New York in 2009. The service will no doubt appeal to the wealthy financiers located in Canary Wharf and The City. BA will operate a twice daily service on an A318 airbus, that will have room for only 32 passengers.

Whilst the almost door to door service between two of the most important finance centres sounds like a winner, the drawback is that the aircraft will need to refuel in Ireland on the outbound leg as the runway at City is not long enough to allow the plane to take off with a full fuel load. 

The brief stop off will add time to the journey and could be the sticking point in the success of this plan in what has become a very competitive niche market.