What's it like to fly all business class across the Atlantic? A Jaunted tipster sent us this report about L'Avion.
Boarding: Leaving Newark, there were only three people working at the counter. The line was a little long (and slow) which surprised me since this was supposed to be a business class flight. The gate area at Newark was on a very small concourse which meant security was quick but there weren't many services available after passing through.
Boarding was also very fast since there were fewer people getting on compared to a normal flight. Because there were fewer passengers, most of the overhead space was empty, which made it easy to stow carry-on luggage.
L'Avion, the last independent transatlantic all business class carrier, just got bought up by British Airways. The backer of the new premium airline OpenSkies directly competed with L'Avion for Paris to New York passengers--until today.
The deal cost BA €68 million ($108 million), though L'Avion had €33 million in cash in the bank. More importantly than eliminating the competition and getting two 757s, OpenSkies will also get L'Avion's landing slots at ORY.
We have two big questions. First, where will the newly-expanded OpenSkies fly? L'Avion served Newark, while the BA offshoot lands at JFK. A company press release mentions "up to three daily flights between Paris Orly and the New York area." The second question: Will OpenSkies make a dime off this deal?
So it turns out there will be no celebratory email today. Silverjet is officially dead after 11th-hour negotiations to restart the all business class carrier fell apart.
We won't pretend to understand all the business-side stuff, other than to say that clearly not enough people were flying. Surprisingly, airline officials didn't blame fuel prices, instead saying the deal fell apart:
As a result of the unusually complex negotiations with third parties.
The entire 420-person staff of Silverjet has been laid off.
But spokesman Greg Maliczyszyn--who's probably been having two really rough weeks--just emailed us to announce that a preliminary deal has been made to re-launch Silverjet. But don't pop those corks just yet: A contract making the deal official still hasn't been signed. (The airline says things should be official by June 13.)
While there might be some folks cheering the airline's (potential) rebirth, we have to wonder how many passengers will rush back to the brand. What's that they say about fooling us twice?
It wasn't too surprising to learn that Silverjet was the latest all business class carrier to ground its planes. After all, we've seen all business class carriers go down before. Unfortunately, some travelers had tickets on Silverjet.
Passenger Grant Godwin had his sweet Dubai birthday party ruined:
Twelve of us were supposed to be flying out to Dubai this evening for my 40th--disappointed is not the word.
Passenger Allan Cabridge was planning a trip to the States:
I'm a businessman and regularly use Silverjet to fly to America. I'm shocked and disappointed to learn of its closure ... I'm just glad I'm flying with another airline today.
At least when you travel on a ticket that costs upwards of £1,000, you can probably afford some alternate transportation. The most unfortunate population in the recent string of closures is employees.
Silverjet has gone the way of Maxjet and Eos, grounding its planes after running out of cash. The all business class carrier was the last to fly the NYC to London route, but despite promises of financing, the money just never materialized.
Your belief in us was shared by our investors--but regrettably, due to unforeseen circumstances, they were unable to unlock the finance that we needed. As a result, we are very sad to announce that from May 30, 2008, we will cease operations and we are no longer able to honor flight reservations.
That leaves L'Avion, which has a deal with British Airways' new spin-off OpenSkies, as the last transatlantic biz class carrier. An industry analyst gave Bloomberg one last--surprisingly sweet--comment on Silverjet:
It's sad in a way because they did make a lot of customers happy over the time they were operating.
Last man standing Silverjet has just announced it's picked up another investor. The deal starts with $25 million in cash and debt that will shore up the airline's finances. If things go well, another $75 million could come through in exchange for two seats on the Silverjet board. Though announced, there's a slight chance the money could be withdrawn, in which case the carrier will almost certainly end up like its rivals.
CEO Lawrence Hunt says the investment should make people more likely to fly with his airline:
The primary issue we've had is a lack of confidence in the sector, but this $100 million investment should restore that confidence. We've had a lot of travel agents and companies holding back from booking with us until our future is secure and this investment obviously secures that future.
We wouldn't say a secure future is "obvious," but $100 million is certainly a lot of green. Interestingly, the money is coming from an investor in the UAE, which is home to Silverjet's newest destination, Dubai. Could an eastward expansion be in the works?
Why should domestics carriers get all the press? Eos Airlines--which kicked it biz class between NYC and London--made its final two flights Sunday. All future flights were canceled.
Leave it to a carrier that hypes how exclusive it is to leave passengers so royally screwed. Silverjet has stepped in to help out--and, the competitor undoubtedly hopes, earn some new customers. The only remaining biz class carrier still doing NYC-London will fly stranded passengers home for the same price they paid on Eos.
Interestingly, now-bankrupt Eos just sent out an email last week announcing:
Now we have a term sheet with a current investor for the financing needed to take us to corporate profitability in 2009.
Seems that deal wasn't as done as anyone expected. The carrier even addressed its deal-making trouble in its final press release:
It is regrettable that, even though investors continue to be enthusiastic about our business model, and even though we had a term sheet in hand, we were unable to close on the financing we needed.
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