Another business-class-only airline will soon be gone. L’Avion, the carrier that offers “business class, French style” between New York and Paris’ Orly Airport will be purchased by British Airways.

L’Avion joins fellow former business class airlines MAXJet, eos, and Silverjet in the “little airlines that couldn’t” category. Rising fuel costs, decreased demand for business class travel, and pressure from larger carriers have made the “premium airline” space a tough market to navigate, and this latest casualty further demonstrates how difficult it is for the “little guy” to compete in a struggling industry.

The move from British Airways seems like a logical one. It’s fledgling OpenSkies (an airline heavily focused on business class and premium economy travel) operates a Paris - New York route, and it can’t hurt to get the competition out of the way.

BA will pay $107.3 million USD for L’Avion, and will incorporate the privately-owned French carrier into its OpenSkies unit.

With British Airways behind it, OpenSkies may survive in the niche air travel market, but the departure of L’Avion coming on the heels of other business-class-only airline collapses may be the final nail in the coffin for what the folks at Gadling refer to as “the small, proud airline.”

Visit Gadling and Reuters for more details on British Airway’s move to purchase L’Avion.