History Of Premium Class Airlines

What is a Premium Class Airline? Premium class airlines, also known as business class only or all-business class airlines, are airlines that are configured entirely into a business or first class arrangement. There are no economy class seats on these airlines. Premium class airlines are popular with the business sector as the check in times are quicker and you are flying in an aircraft configured for business. Concorde The Concorde was the original premium class airline. The Concorde was the first supersonic passenger airline and operated a commercial service for 27 years from 1976 to 2003. It cut a 7 hour transatlantic flight to just 3 and a half hours. It was more expensive (and much noisier) than conventional aircraft so the supersonic aircraft didn't make economic sense for commercial airlines to buy. Air France and British Airways operated services with government subsidized aircraft. As the aircraft had such a small fuselage the seats were not the luxurious type found in business and first class today. The seats were set in 2x2 configuration and were about the same size as today's economy seats. There was little room for carry on luggage as well. What the Concorde lacked in space, it made up for in service and speed. Ticket prices ensured exclusivity to business people and the super rich. The Concorde operated its last flight in 2003. The Air France crash in 2000 and the downturn in the aviation industry following the terrorists attacks of September 11 2001 were factors in BA and Air France ending their Concorde services. A New Class of Airline While the Concorde was in its last days a new type of airline was taking shape in form of the premium class airline. Lufthansa started an all-business-class flight from Dusseldorf to New York Newark in June 2002, using an aircraft chartered from Swiss airline PrivatAir. This service became popular enough for other routes to be added as well. The first new brand of premium class airline commenced operations on October 18, 2005. Eos Airlines began services between New York JFK and London Stansted. US based MAXjet began shortly after in November 2005, while the UK based Silverjet and French airline L'Avion both began in January 2007. With these new type of airlines proving their commercial viability, the regular scheduled airlines are taking notice. Virgin Atlantic and British Airways have aired the possibility of starting branded all-business-class offshoots of their own. Destinations With London and New York being the two biggest financial capitals in the world this is the most popular route for premium class airlines on offer. The premium class airline market continues to expand with services to other US destinations and beyond London to continental European cities. L'Avion fly from its home base of Paris Orly to Newark and Geneva based PrivatAir continue to operate charter business class only services for other European airlines KLM and Swiss International Airlines. A business class only service was operated briefly in Australia. Ozjet had a Sydney - Melbourne service from November 2005 to March 2006. The Sydney to Melbourne air route is the third busiest in the world in terms of the number of flights operating per week, but the all-business class airline concept didn't take off. The Future With the open skies agreement made between the US and Europe in 2007, new routes are possible. The open skies agreement means that airlines can operate services between countries they are not based in. So a UK based airline could feasibly operate a Brussels to Washington service, connecting the capitals of the US with the EU. Airlines are also looking beyond the traditional US-EU markets, with potential in the big financial capitals of the Far East like Shanghai and Tokyo, or the emerging financial capitals of Dubai and Mumbai. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/684608