In spite of the recession-triggered notable slump in air travel, British Airways (BA) has aggressively pushed its first 'business class only' service from London City Airport to New York's JFK.

The new, bold service, which was announced by BA in June, kicked off on Tuesday - with the first fully converted 32-seat A318 carrying a group of VIPs, including the invited corporate customers and BA executives, on its inaugural flight.

The British Airways CEO Willie Walsh was also among those aboard the flight, and he reportedly availed the on-board Internet access advantage to e-mail BA Executive Club members.

Flagged BA001, the new service - launched under BA's legacy brand instead of its all-premium wholly-owned subsidiary OpenSkies - will be operational six times a week till mid-October, and thereafter the airline intends increasing the frequency of the service to two times a day.

Accommodating only 32 passengers instead of the standard 100, the luxury flat-bed service has been priced at between £1,900 and £5,000 (€2,080 to €5,470) return. The fight, which will have to break off almost for one hour to take on more fuel at Shannon, allows passengers to e-mail, text and tweet all across the Atlantic.

About the new service, BA said in a statement: "In the harshest trading environment airlines have experienced, we believe it is more important than ever to embrace the future and innovate."