British Airways rules out sales of OpenSkies unit

 

British Airways will keepfull ownership of its Open Skies subsidiary, ruling out the involvement of outside investors, it said on Friday.

"We have no plans to sell Open Skies or seek third party investment in the airline" BA said in a statement emailed to Reuters.

The British flag carrier created Open Skies last year afterthe European Union and the U.S. backed an 'open skies' deal to liberalise transatlantic air travel. It began running services between Paris and New York last summer.

Recent press reports said BA had received, and knocked-back,several bids from European and U.S. private-equity firms to invest in or buy the unit.

"We are reviewing all aspects of our business in the current economic climate including our subsidiary Open Skies" BA said.

"Open Skies is a high quality premium airline that remains of strategic and financial value to us. Its Paris-New York flights are performing well, despite the current economic environment, and customer feedback is very positive."

Shares in BA were flat at 202.60 pence by 0830 GMT, valuing the carrier at around 2.3 billion pounds ($3.75 billion).