When MAXJet, one of the airlines doing the London to New York business class flights folded last December I wondered who might be next. Now it seems that the answer is Eos Airlines. The NY Times reports that the company has stopped flights and filed for bankruptcy protection. When MAXJet stopped operations it was Eos that picked up their stranded passengers. Eos ran their final flights on Sunday. In February, British Airways announced a new business-class service from London to New York. The airline has two Airbus A318 to service the new route, fitting them with lie flat beds for 31 passengers. They will likely be competing against Silverjet, the remaining small carrier doing business flights from London to New York. Eos had offered flights on Boeing 757s reconfigured with 48 seats that turned into flat beds. The flights offered gourmet foods and wines and individual DVD players at the seats for prices ranging from $3,500 to $9,000 roundtrip. The airline was a success but was simply not making enough money and failed to raise a necessary $50 million additional financing to help pay debts.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-27-2008 @ 11:55PM
Andy said...
Silverjet will be next to declare banktruptcy. Eos was predicted to be the one that survived, so Silverjet has little chance. BA's "openskies" product has a much better chance as it is backed by a huge airline with the full resources of British Airways.
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4-28-2008 @ 12:02PM
John said...
Hmm. BA has been very quiet about the fact that their business class flights out of London City will need to stop in Ireland to refuel (the runway is too small to allow fully fuelled flights), adding about three hours to the journey time.
Sure, times will be tough for Silverjet, but I flew them from NY yesterday and the plane was 100% full. Seems to me that less direct competition is a better thing, as is not flying from Terminal 5. The current share price seems to confirm that view.