January 3, 2008 – UNDISMAYED by the collapse of MAXjet (Inflight Online, December 26), one of the surviving premium-only carriers continues to talk a good game. Two full-service carriers – British Airways and Virgin Atlantic - are hatching similar operations of their own, and others are waiting in the wings to exploit opportunities arising from Open Skies liberalisation on the North Atlantic.

British Airways is soliciting proposals from handheld IFE suppliers, and at least one of the industry leaders is known to be preparing a response.

London Luton-based Silverjet, which offers IFE provided by the Mezzo/e.Digital team, describes its December passenger figures as a new record, despite recording a rather unimpressive load factor of 52.8 per cent. With its three Boeing 767s the carrier generated a total of 15,600 seats on its routes to New York and Dubai, and managed to sell 8,239 of them.

That total represents an increase of 10.5 per cent on October, according to the airline. “Forward bookings remain strong for both our New York and Dubai services and yields remain ahead of expectations,” says chief executive Lawrence Hunt. “The feedback from our customers and media in respect of the Dubai service has been fantastic and we remain very confident about this new route.”

Failing to resist the temptation to dance on MAXjet’s grave, Hunt says: “Our average yield was over 50 per cent higher than MAXjet’s before it ceased to operate, our revenue per aircraft two and a half times higher in our first half-year of operation, and our fuel cost per sector 23 per cent lower.” Silverjet reports an average yield per seat per single leg of £594 in October, and a fuel cost per sector of £10,934.
 
The carrier says it is getting a growing number of enquiries from corporate customers, and claims a healthy level of repeat custom: 20 per cent of travellers come back at least once, while the Silverjet Set loyalty scheme has attracted 700 members since its launch in November. Silverjet expects to have achieved its first profitable month by the end of the financial year on March 31, and to be cashflow-positive thereafter.
 
Meantime, London Stansted-New York operation Eos (IFE from IMS) and Paris Orly-New York carrier L’Avion (digEcor) are both looking to expand, while BA and Virgin Atlantic are poised to unwrap their own all-premium-class discount airlines.

Eos, which now offers 44 flights weekly between New York JFK and Stansted, recently took delivery of its fifth and sixth 757s, with two more expected to join the fleet soon. It plans to start up this year on JFK-Paris and New York Newark-Stansted, and has a third new route planned but not yet announced. L’Avion recently added flights on Orly-Newark and is to acquire a second 757 this month.

British Airways is due to introduce its venture next Wednesday. Developed under the codename Project Lauren, it is scheduled to enter service in May, flying a Boeing 757 fitted mostly with premium-class seats between a European city (Paris and Brussels are the leading candidates) and New York (either JFK or Newark). Virgin Atlantic founder Sir Richard Branson is expected to announce his airline’s plans soon.