British Airways (BA) is to buy French all-premium operator L’Avion in a £54 million ($108 million) deal and will integrate it into its newly launched OpenSkies transatlantic subsidiary.

BA’s OpenSkies unit, which launched operations last month on the Paris-New York JFK route, already codeshares with L’Avion. Privately-owned L’Avion currently operates two Boeing 757s on flights between Paris and Newark.

BA chief executive Willie Walsh says: “L’Avion is a successful airline that has built up a premium business between Orly and New York in a relatively short period of time.

“It has many synergies with OpenSkies and buying it provides OpenSkies with a larger schedule and an established cust

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