British Airways pilots will vote on whether to strike over the airlines plans to launch a subsidiary business. The British Pilots Association (Balpa) believes that the launch of OpenSkies will mean a two tier system of quality. The union also believes that the launch which will offer luxury flights from continental Europe to America at lower operating costs than BA will lead to pay and conditions being challenged. Balpa say that the new company will have weaker safety standards and that pilots would be required to take further courses to transfer to BA. BA however, claims that safety standards would be the same across both airlines and that OpenSkies will not be detrimental to BA pilots.