NEW YORK (AP) -- A former British Airways PLC executive will start a new airline this year to fly between New York and London.
The new airline, called Eos and founded by David Spurlock, said Wednesday it will begin business-class-only trans-Atlantic service in the third quarter.
The airline will lease three 757 airplanes and configure them with 48 seats, rather than the typical 200 seats, giving each customer 21 square feet (1.9 square meters) of space. They will fly between New York's Kennedy airport and London's Stanstead.
Eos will join a host of new, small, boutique airlines offering luxury service targeted at business travelers. UAL Corp.'s United Airlines flies a premium transcontinental service between New York and San Francisco or Los Angeles. Deutsche Lufthansa AG offers premium service within Europe through partner Privatair. And Eos will have direct competition if British company Fly First raises money to start premium service between London's Luton airport and Newark.
Eos' fares will be about 20 percent to 25 percent below the premium-class fares of rival airlines, as Spurlock plans to keep the airline small. British Airways charges between $1,600 (euro1,298) and $5,000 (euro4,057) for business class tickets between New York and London, depending on the time of year, and first-class seats cost more than $6,000 (euro4,868).
Eos has secured $185 million (euro150 million) in equity and lease financing from Golden Gate Capital, a private equity company, and venture capital firms Sutter Hill Ventures and Maveron.
Chief Executive Spurlock was head of strategy for British Airways.
