LONDON, July 28, 2008 (AFP) - OpenSkies, a new airline taking advantage of more flexible rules on carriers across the Atlantic, said Monday it was to launch a new daily service between Amsterdam and New York.

The carrier, a wholly-owned subsidiary of British Airways in collaboration with French-based airline L'Avion, was launched in June as a 'premium' airline initially on the New York-Paris route.

The new route between Amsterdam's Schiphol airport and New York's JFK will begin operating on October 15, it said.

'We're expanding to Amsterdam because of its significance as a business and cultural capital in continental Europe,' said OpenSkies managing director Dale Moss.

The carrier claims to be the first airline created on the basis of the US-European Union open-skies pact that allows carriers increased access to each other's markets.

OpenSkies is using a Boeing 757 aircraft configured to allow the seats to fold into full beds in business class. A second BA Boeing 757 is being modified to fly the new route.

When it launched the airline said it planned to serve additional routes from European cities also including Brussels, Frankfurt and Milan to New York.