Yesterday the last remaining transatlantic all-premium carrier, Paris-based L'Avion, was sold to British Airways for €68 million ($107 million). L'Avion follows Maxjet, Eos and Silverjet in being confined to the history book. L'Avion clearly was in better shape than the other three, which all ceased operations permanently after filing for bankruptcy, as it sill had €33 million in cash at hand. Given that it launched with only €20 million, L'Avion impressively had made a profit in its first year and a half of operations.

But in today's environment of record high oil prices and intense competition across the North Atlantic, L'Avion's future as an independent was far from certain. So L'Avion's owners decided selling to BA, which will integrate L'Avion into its new transatlantic subsidiary OpenSkies, was in their best interest.

L'Avion lasted exactly 18 months as an independent carrier, having launched in early January 2007. New York-based Eos lasted the longest of the four all-premium transatlantic start-ups, launching in October 2005 and ceasing services in April this year.

US-based Maxjet lasted just over two years, launching in November 2005 and ceasing operations on Christmas Eve last year. UK-based Silverjet had the shortest life of the four, launching in January 2007 and shutting down in May this year. Silverjet was hoping to resume services in June but threw in the towel after a deal with a potential new investor fell through.

At least for L'Avion's 77 employees, they will still have jobs. L'Avion will help OpenSkies in particular with sales in France, where L'Avion succeeded at wooing small businesses away from Air France. BA is stronger with sales in New York, where it has a strong brand and its own terminal at JFK Airport.

Combined the two carriers will operate three flights per day in the Paris-New York market, with OpenSkies offering one daily frequency to JFK and L'Avion two daily frequencies to Newark. Both operate from Paris Orly while all of Air France's transatlantic flights operate from Charles de Gaulle. L'Avion and OpenSkies have already been codesharing since OpenSkies launched last month.

Once BA's purchase of L'Avion secures approval from regulatory authorites, which are not expected to object to the deal as both carriers are so small, OpenSkies will have to decide whether to keep L'Avion's configuration of 90 old style business class seats on its two Boeing 757s or reconfigure the aircraft to match the three-class (lie-flat business, premium economy and regular economy) 82-seat configuration that it has on its 757s. It will also have to decide whether to cut back to two frequencies in the New York-Paris market and move over one aircraft to launch a new route. OpenSkies was already planning to add services to New York from other European cities, likely Brussels, Frankfurt and Zurich, as it takes delivery of additional 757s. But with L'Avion's strong brand in Paris, OpenSkies may instead decide to add new routes from Orly.

L'Avion's decision to join Maxjet, Eos and Silverjet in the history book shows just how hard it is to survive as an independent carrier in a small niche, especially with sky high oil prices. But don't be surprised if there is a revival of the all-premium transatlantic niche in a few years when new fuel efficient aircraft, in particular the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350, could make the economics attractive again.

To read my chief executive interview with L'Avion chief executive Marc Rochet from one year ago, click here. To ready my feature on the all-premium sector from one year ago, when it seemed to be the hottest trend, click here.

Walsh did not indecently expose himself to express his displeasure, but he is reported to have written in BA's in-house newsletter that "the decision to allow President Bush and his fleet of aircraft to fly into Heathrow rather than a military base was one that all of Heathrow's users could have done without", and that he was "angry that this was allowed".

The report goes on to say that the unpopular US President's arrival and departure at Heathrow resulted in BA having to cancel 53 short-haul flights and delay another 260 flights for more than 30 minutes - which the carrier could have done without following the chaos that surrounded the opening of Terminal 5.

The Presidential visit affected 38,000 BA passengers, which will no doubt translate into another 38,000 people who are less than pleased with President Bush (who is pictured above in a White House photo by Eric Draper alongside UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown). 

Ah well, they can console themselves with the fact that a new US President will be elected this November! 

So, the news that British Airways is selling its 10.5% share in Air Mauritius was a surprise, mainly because I'd forgotten they even had it.

It's no surprise BA is selling it. Not because of the cash riches it will release - it's only worth £3.2 million - but because it is meaningless and frankly not worth the management hassle. I'd like to know why BA took the stake in the first place (it dates back to 1973). Something about helping a start-up get going I've read.

So, what other airline stakes does BA have?

According to our Air Transport Intelligence database, there are four (including the Air Mauritius one), all representing an investment of less than 20% in any carrier.

* Iberia - 13.15%

* Flybe - 15%

* Comair (South Africa) - 12.85%.

Of these, which can be classed as strategic or longer-term? Certainly Iberia could be if BA starts to move on European consolidation with other flag carriers and it recently upped its stake in the Spanish airline.

Flybe will most likely be relatively temporary and is part of the deal that saw the UK-based regional low-fare player acquire BA's regional operations.

The Comair deal, which involves the carrier feeding BA as a franchise partner, addresses an issue in a particular market and could be at risk if Comair does decide to launch services to the UK, putting it into competition with BA.

For more on Air Mauritius, read our interview with its chairman Sanjay Bhuckory.

SAS has been trying to offload Spanair since last June but despite previous interest from Spanish flag carrier Iberia and Grupo Marsans owner Gonzalo Pascual, nobody seems to want the carrier. So it looks like SAS is stuck with it.

Pascual, who sold his 5.1% stake in Spanair a year ago to clear to way to bid for 100% of the carrier, is busy negotiating with an Argentine businessman over the future of Marsans' subsidiary Aerolineas Argentinas. So he obviously has quite a lot on his mind at the moment!

If I had pots of money to invest (if only, if only), I wouldn't be overly keen on buying Spanair either. The Spanish market is fiercely competitive nowadays, following the arrival of low-cost operators Clickair and Vueling.

Also, Spanair operates a fleet of fuel-guzzling MD-80s which, in a time of environmental concerns and $140 oil, doesn't make much financial sense.