British Airways has identified the first two Boeing 757-200 aircraft which will leave the mainline fleet this year and transfer to the new operation OpenSkies.

BA has 13 757-200s in its fleet. All of them are powered by Rolls-Royce RB211-535E4 engines. A spokeswoman for the carrier says the airline is to use G-BPEJ and G-BPEK to begin OpenSkies services.

G-BPEJ is a 14-year old twin-jet, while its sister ship is a year younger. Both aircraft will be reconfigured with 82 seats and modified with winglets.

Winglets have been developed for the 757 by joint venture Aviation Partners Boeing which claims RB211-powered aircraft can achieve 5% block fuel savings over a range of 3,000nm.

OpenSkies will use the aircraft to perform transatlantic services from New York to Paris and Brussels this year, with first flights starting in June.