Silverjet sees strong demand for business class flights

Business class-only airline Silverjet today said demand had exceeded expectations following the start of services to New York in January.

Silverjet’s load factor in March was significantly ahead of hopes at 59%, adding that forward bookings for the route between Luton and New York’s Newark Liberty International were much stronger than forecast.

The update on trading during last month came as Silverjet announced a £26m (€38.5m) stock market fundraising.

It said it planned to use the proceeds for expenditure not included in its original business plan, including the cost of acquiring Skylease and Flyjet in deals that enabled it to start flying five months earlier than planned.

The group is running one flight a day to New York, but plans are in the pipeline for a second daily flight to launch in July. Return fares start at £999 (€1,478), significantly undercutting existing business-class fares.

Lawrence Hunt, chief executive and founder of Silverjet, said reaction to the new service had been “overwhelmingly positive”, adding that the fundraising represented a “significant step forward” for the airline.

Silverjet said 81% of its flights arrived and departed on time to within 15 minutes of schedule.

The company added: “Forward bookings have continued to substantially exceed the board’s expectations, at yields – excluding promotions – increasing on a month by month basis.” It also told investors that it was confident results for the year just ended would exceed market expectations.