British Airways, looking to take advantage of open-skies agreement between the European Union and the U.S., is considering an all-premium traffic operation from points in the EU to the U.S.

BA would equip aircraft with a premium economy and business-class cabin. The airline recently applied for rights to operate from EU points to the U.S. once the open-skies agreement is in place.

BA has a history of entering off-shore markets. In the early 1990s, the airline launched Deutsche BA on German domestic routes but later sold it (the unit is now part of Air Berlin.) BA had similar operations in place elsewhere, including in France.

The all-premium product would compete with bigger rivals Air France-KLM and Lufthansa but likely not in their hub airports. Lufthansa is particularly vulnerable to off-hub competition as it puts a heavy focus on its Munich- and Frankfurt-based operations. It operates all-business-class Boeing Business Jet and Airbus A319 long- range services from Munich and Duesseldorf to Chicago and New York. Swiss has a similar service between Zurich and New York in cooperation with Private Air, which also flies on behalf of KLM.

Along with BA, Virgin Atlantic has announced its intention to look at continental Europe-U.S. markets.