British Airways will announce on Wednesday that it is pressing ahead with its ambitious plan to launch services between the US and leading business and financial centres in continental Europe.

The venture will start during the coming summer season with early services to include the routes between New York and Paris and Brussels.

It is designed to take advantage of the US/European Union "open skies" deal to liberalise transatlantic air services, which comes into operation at the end of March.

Congestion in New York airspace and US government moves to limit the number of flights to New York's JFK airport, mean that BA has yet to decide whether the new service will operate to JFK or New York Newark.

The initiative, code-named Project Lauren, will start modestly with one or two Boeing 757 narrow body aircraft taken from BA's existing fleet but configured with business class and premium economy seating.

It will be the first time that BA has tried to fly long-haul out of Europe other than from its stronghold UK bases at London Heathrow and Gatwick and to a small extent from Manchester.

It will take the British carrier head-to-head, in particular for business travellers, with European carriers such as Air France-KLM or US carriers such as Delta Air Lines, Continental Airlines and American Airlines, which are already operating on its planned routes.

BA is moving ahead despite a looming dispute over the project with its existing 3,000 pilots.

The venture is being started as a separate subsidiary within the BA group with its own air operator certificate, so that it can be established with a lower cost base and more flexible terms and conditions of employment for flight and cabin crew than the current BA mainline operation.

BA has begun recruiting pilots for the venture from outside the group.

It has refused to accept the demand from its existing pilots, who are organised by Balpa, the British Air Line Pilots Association, that pilots for the new venture should be linked to the seniority list of its existing pilots flying to and from the UK.

BA has registered a separate subsidiary, currently named BA European, to operate the venture, with a board that includes Roger Maynard, BA director of investments and alliances, Keith Williams, BA chief financial officer, and Robert Boyle, BA commercial director.

The board also includes Dale Moss, a US citizen and former BA sales director, now based in the US, who has led the project development.

Balpa's BA company council has warned members that it was "incidental" whether the base for the new BA airline was in Paris, Brussels or Amsterdam, "it is work which pilots on the BA Mainline Seniority List should be able to fly".

It told pilots the operation proposed by BA "could be a 'Trojan Horse' for the future and it is imperative Balpa is a part of the new venture from the beginning. It will be too late in five or so years' time when 'Lauren' has grown to possibly 15 or 20 aircraft, carrying passengers that used to be Mainline BA, to try and ensure BA pilots are able to fly those planes."

BA is due for a further meeting with its pilots next week.

Willie Walsh, BA chief executive, said late last year that the new services would be "a natural extension" of BA's "long-established expertise in providing for the transatlantic business market." He said BA was seeking to take advantage of its "deep roots" in the US with "an established reputation and a strong brand".

Virgin Atlantic, its UK long-haul rival controlled by Sir Richard Branson, has considered a similar move to BA, but shelved its project last autumn.