BA's decision to plan a series of transatlantic flights from “key continental cities” in Europe looks on the face of it like a mighty gamble.
While the flesh has yet to be put on the bare bones of BA's announcement, it seems this enterprise will be aimed primarily at the premium customer, those in first and business and perhaps premium economy.
The key cities have not been named but the list is likely to include Paris, Brussels, Zurich and Frankfurt and perhaps a few others, like Amsterdam, Madrid and possibly Milan.
Again the American city or cities to be served have also not been named but New York and perhaps Chicago top the list, followed, perhaps, by Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The concept of business-class only carriers has been tested, with unexpected success, by Eos Airlines, MAXjet, Silverjet, L'Avion and Lufthansa.
The first two run flights out of the UK from Stansted. Silverjet operates from Luton while L'Avion and Lufthansa operate, respectively out of Paris Orly and Dusseldorf and Munich.
Except in the case of L'Avion which put up against Air France's transatlantic flights to New York from Charles De Gaulle, all the rest were not in direct competition with major carriers.
For example, Lufthansa's service from Dusseldorf to Newark was inaugurated in 2002 after a careful study of the potential customers in the airport's catchment area which concluded there was a gap in the market.
This can not be said for BA's plans. Key cities in Europe, like Paris and Frankfurt, are already well served by their home carriers, Air France and Lufthansa.
BA will not only be taking these on but also American carriers enjoying a new lease of financial life after the doldrums of post 9/11.
Delta Air Lines is the best example. Just out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the carrier has a policy to expand its transatlantic services to a growing number of European cities from its hubs in Atlanta, Georgia and New York.
They and American Airlines, BA's oneworld partner, will be sure to see the UK airline's move as
a challenge.
BA has a strong standing and attractive brand in the States. It also has an excellent service from JFK to Heathrow in which premium travellers can dine in the lounge before boarding and sleep on flat beds once the plane has taken off.
It would seem likely that the first aim of the new flights would be to attract American business travellers whose national carriers do not offer this service, rather than French, German or Swiss business travellers.
One of the reasons for the success of airlines like Eos and MAXjet is the level of passenger service, the feeling that they are being treated specially. BA will have to match this if they are going to make inroads into this elite market.
There is also the feeling that BA will not be the only airline trying out new routes and new services once the Open Skies deal comes into effect next March.
Virgin Atlantic springs to mind as an innovative carrier with a strong US standing that might well also move down this path.
This leaves out any speculation as to which carrier might be starting or hoping to start services to the US out of Heathrow next March.
The BA announcement also comes at a time when it might be thought its hands were full with the imminent move to Heathrow's Terminal Five, its bid for Iberia and its determination to reach a 10% operating margin.
But the biggest flaw in planning to offer a service that is heavily slanted towards the premium traveller is an economic one.
It is a market that is more than usually sensitive to shifts in the economy. If the economic bubble bursts and there is a sharp downturn in the economy, it is just these flights and airlines that travel managers, faced with demands to trim their budgets, will strike off the shopping list first.
A thriving economy might be BA's biggest ally in this enterprise but the reverse of this is its biggest threat.