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Clipping Big Bird's Wings. The last British Airways Concorde aircraft will reportedly be sold to Dubai (along with the Queen Elizabeth 2) as a tourist attraction on Palm Jumeirah. The supersonic BA fleet was grounded six years ago and all the other aircraft were donated to museums, except this last one, which had been stripped for spare parts. That's not the last indignity it will suffer - to get the plane to Dubai via ship, its wings will have to be cut off before loading. Once at its final destination, it will be tarted up and opened for touring...
...damage from the flying public staying at home has claimed another large victim - Boeing (BA), which only a year ago had business prospects that it would have been proud to set side-by-side with those of any other large American company. Boeing was an $87 stock last May. It trades for $39 today...
...Still, BA sees a huge gap in the market. "It's for people who recognize that transatlantic travel is something you want to do in other than economy class," says Dale Moss, OpenSkies' effervescent managing director. Business-class flyers to Amsterdam and Paris pay as much as $8,000 round-trip on legacy carriers such as KLM and Northwest. For that money, you get to board first; then you wait for the other 200 passengers to crowd in after you. Asks Moss: "Would you rather be on an airplane that has two-by-two seating that takes, what, 15 minutes...
...targeting that segment has failed before, notably in London. Indeed, BA and American Airlines used price-cutting and other tactics to help shoot down three business-class-only carriers. Nor will the incumbents in Amsterdam fail to react. KLM and Northwest have already slashed business-class fares...
...Amsterdam and Paris, business passengers make up 65% to 70% of the traffic, a percentage that works for OpenSkies and points to opportunities in other business centers like Frankfurt and Milan--if BA gives the airline enough support. BCG's Egan, a consumer-products specialist, says that consumer awareness of OpenSkies is limited and that as a boutique brand in a large company, it is always vulnerable. "All my clients have little brands like this. But the problem is, Can you keep incubating them...